re-visit 4 years from the tsunami!
Toxic waste sickening Somalia
04/03/2005 20:12 - (SA)
Nairobi - Very toxic waste washed on to Somali's coastline by last December's tsumani have spawned diseases bearing symptoms of radioactive exposure in villagers along the shorelines of the shattered African nation, UN Environment Programme said on Friday.
Citing initial reports, Unep spokesperson Nick Nuttall told AFP that "there are indications that harzardous waste, radioactive waste, chemical waste and other substances, (in containers) which have been dumped on the Somali coastline, were damaged by the tsunami".
United Nations officials said the deadly waves, which originated off Indonesia on December 26, possibly damaged the containers in northern Somalia and spilled the waste to the open, from where it spread further - either by wind and humans - causing diseases.
Nuttall said United Nations agencies working in northern Somalia, a country that has been wracked by anarchy since 1991, reported symptoms of diseases.
"There are reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems like mouth bleeds, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties," Nuttall said. UN officials familiar with the situation say the diseases bear radiation sickness symptoms.
"Unep is in discussions with (Somali) government with a view to sending a full assessment mission to the country so that we can work out the magnitude of the problem," Nuttall explained.
Somalia authorities reported that nearly 300 people - a figure the humanitarian agencies dispute - were killed and thousands displaced by the tsunami waves, which were sparked by an undersea quake in Indonesia on December 26.
In the late 1980s, European firms dumped wastes such as uranium, lead, cadmium, mercury and other industrial waste in northern Somalia, but the trend picked up rapidly after the violent ouster of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, according to United Nations officials.
