An Environmental Catastrophe Provokes Ivory Coast Political Crisis
By Gaëlle Dupont and Jean-Pierre Tuquoi
Le Monde

Friday 08 September 2006

Initially expected to be announced this weekend, the composition of the new Ivory Coast government will be made public next week only, resigning prime minister Charles Konan Banny, charged by Head of State Laurent Gbagbo with putting the new team together, announced Thursday, September 7.

This government change was due to the discharge of dozens of tons of liquid toxic waste brought from the port by a fleet of tanker trucks into a dozen of the public dumps of Abidjan - the principal Ivory Coast city with about 4 million inhabitants - during the night of August 19 to 20. Three people - including two little girls - have died so far from the emanations of these pollutants, while the city's hospitals have seen close to 2,000 people complaining of headaches, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Access to the dumps is now prohibited by the security forces, and the relatively destitute Ivory Coast has solicited help from the international community. A first team of French specialists was expected Friday afternoon in Abidjan, where part of the population continues to demonstrate its discontent. Road blocks have been erected in several neighborhoods in spite of the authorities' appeals for calm and their assurances about the quality of drinking water. "All protective measures, including the possible displacement of populations, will be put into effect," explained a television spokesperson for the outgoing government.

The circumstances of this vicious discharge of toxic waste remain hazy. What is unambiguous is the origin of the pollutants. They come from a chemical tanker baptized "Probo Koala" seventeen years ago, that flies the Panamanian flag, has a Russian crew, is managed by a Greek company, Prime Marine, but was chartered by a firm registered in the Netherlands, Trafigura Beheer, specializing in the transport of oil and mineral products. Considered a "big traveler," the Probo Koala, according to Le Monde's information, was inspected in mid-June in Estonia where technical lapses, notably the absence of any wherewithal for fire-fighting, were noted.

According to the available information, the toxic products comprised a mix of diesel oil, water, and caustic soda, remains of previous cargoes "made toxic by chemical reaction," asserted an official from the company that owns the ship. According to Dutch authorities, a first evacuation of the cargo took place in Amsterdam in July, but the operation was halted following complaints about the products' noxiousness. Hence the Probo Koala's departure for Estonia, then for Ivory Coast. "At the moment, we cannot establish whether the wastes discharged in Ivory Coast are the same as those the boat tried to dump in Amsterdam," details a communiqué published Thursday by the Dutch prosecutor charged with the Probo Koala investigation.

Political Account-Settling

The conditions under which the ship - "which did not enter (Abidjan) clandestinely," assures the Ivory Coast transportation minister - could have discharged its cargo remain another mystery that has already given rise to political account-settling in an Ivory Coast on the verge of bursting during the last four years. Several officials have been charged with negligence: politicians who claim to be from the opposition, including the (outgoing) ministers of transportation and the environment, and senior officials, among the first ranks of whom are the director of customs and the director of the port. The latter, Marcel Gossio, close to Mr. Gbagbo, is considered one of the most generous donors to the presidential party, the Ivorian Popular Front (IPF).

The surprise resignation of the cohabitation government is another element of the crisis. Presented to the head of state by the prime minister without consultation, it took all the opposition leaders by surprise. In a communiqué broadcast Thursday, President Gbagbo's opponents said they "condemned ... the head of state and the prime minister's (desire) to cynically exploit the drama and suffering of Ivorians to settle political problems." The composition of the next governmental team should allow a clearer perspective.

Translation: t r u t h o u t French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher.