- As the foul, eggy smell from toxic waste dumped last month in Cote d’Ivoire’s main city dissipates, thousands of people are still falling sick, and the United Nations has warned the pollution could seep into the food chain.
The fallout from 400 tonnes of gasoline residue dumped at a number of sites across Abidjan during the night of 19 August has so far killed six people, including four children, according to the Ministry of Health.
A team of French experts confirmed on Tuesday that the toxic waste contains hydrogen sulphide, a foul-smelling and highly toxic chemical.
Nearly 9,000 people have flooded into the city’s public hospitals seeking treatment for nausea, headaches, and respiratory problems, and 19 have been hospitalised, said Jean Denoman, a spokesman for the Health Ministry.
Medical staff at the public Cocody Hospital, which has set up an emergency centre on the hospital grounds for toxic waste victims, said the facility received nearly 800 patients on Tuesday, and the number of people seeking treatment is increasing daily.
Treatments including X-ray scans and medicines are being offered free of charge at nearly all hospitals in Abidjan. But doctors warn they are already pushed beyond capacity.
“All our hospital staff has been mobilised to deal with this problem,” said Elise Kouadio, a doctor at the facility. “We don’t have time to do anything else.”
Hundreds of residents near the city's garbage disposal site Akuedo said they were still waiting to see a doctor as their local clinic was not able to cope with the daily influx of patients.
"I have a bloated stomach, headaches, and irregular heartbeats," resident Didier Kone told IRIN. "Most of the people here suffer from the same symptoms."
Doctors say even if people like Kone can get to a hospital, they are fighting a losing battle so long as the waste is not cleaned up. “People get treated, but they fall sick again when they return home because they have nowhere else to go,” Kouadio said.
Officials are warning that this might just be the beginning of Abidjan’s problems.
The waste has so far been found at 11 open-air sites including the main garbage dump, most of which have not been sealed off and lack warning signs. Government and UN officials said on Tuesday they expected more sites to be discovered.
"Reliable sources indicate that a significant amount of waste was dumped in the sea and the lagoon as well as near the market gardening zones," acting UN humanitarian coordinator Youssouf Oomar said in a statement released on Tuesday.
French scientists from the French Office of Geological and Mineral Research have conducted an assessment of Abidjan and said drinking water wells are not contaminated, but UN officials have warned the pollution could spread to the food chain if it is allowed to stay in the environment.
According to the UN’s coordination office OCHA, some of the substance was dumped in the Abidjan lagoon and sewage system, and other suspected dumping sites may be close to water sources.
Cleaning the toxic waste already discovered will take between 10 and 15 days, according to the French scientists.
The toxic waste scare had sparked another health concern.
To stop tanker trucks from discharging potentially hazardous material, residents blocked access to the main garbage dump with makeshift roadblocks and hastily built brick walls, causing fast-growing heaps of uncollected household garbage across the city.
Mounting public anger over the dumping of the so-called “chemical slops” resulted in the resignation of Cote d’Ivoire’s power-sharing government last week. Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny, who remains in office, is expected to announce a new cabinet by the end of this week.
But the main opposition parties have warned they will not participate in the new government until those responsible for the dumping have been detained.
Authorities have arrested seven people in connection with the dumping, including three customs officials and a high-ranking official at the Transport Ministry, according to local news reports.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español