NASSIR Posted March 10, 2005 Somali men walk past unidentified garbage washed on to the beach in Haafun in north eastern Somalia. Exiled Somali government wants tsunami spread toxic waste probed NAIROBI, March 9 (AFP) Somalia's government in exile on Wednesday demanded an urgent probe into reports that toxic waste washed onto the Somali coast by last year's tsunami is causing illnesses and widespread environmental damage. Environment Minister Mohamed Osman Maye said experts should be sent to Somalia to look into reports that debris the tsunami washed ashore or stirred up from previously dumped waste containers is causing a wide range of unexplained medical problems among coastal villagers. He said the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the international community "must intervene urgently to assist the very needy Somali population that is starving to death on a daily basis as a consquence of actions beyond its defense capability." Experts must be sent immediately "to identify ... the types of dumped hazardous debris and their origins ... in order to save what could be savable in Somalia," Maye told reporters here. According to UNEP, villagers along Somalia's Indian Ocean coast are suffering from unexplained acute respiratory infections, dry heavy coughing, mouth bleeds, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties. Some of the illnesses have presented symptoms similar to those associated with radiation exposure, UNEP said earlier this month, noting indications that containers full of radioactive and chemical waste dumped on the coast had been damaged by the December 26 tsunami and were leaking. "Most of the waste was simply dumped on the beaches in containers and disposable leaking barrels, which ranged from small to big tanks without regard to the health of the local population and environmentally devastating impacts," UNEP said in a report. Maye said his government, which is located in Nairobi due to security concerns in lawless Somalia, was receiving similar reports of the spread of "new and not yet diagnostically known diseases" that have resulted in increasing number of human and animal deaths. In the late 1980s, European firms dumped toxins such as uranium, lead, cadmium and mercury as well as industrial, hospital and chemical waste in northern Somalia, the United Nations has said. That trend picked up rapidly after the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre left Somalia without any functioning central government, according to UN officials. Somalia watchers have said that warlords along Somalia's coast were paid hefty amounts of cash to allow waste to be dumped there. Tribune De Geneve Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NASSIR Posted March 10, 2005 According to UNEP, villagers along Somalia's Indian Ocean coast are suffering from unexplained acute respiratory infections, dry heavy coughing, mouth bleeds, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties. Very sad indeed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
