the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
Djibi, Abidjan, January 2010: hundreds of bags with
contaminated material. © N.EAtoN/b.KourA An incomplete decontamination
process
The remaining CFA5 billion (US$12 million) was
marked as financial aid to the government and
was apparently intended to be spent on healthrelated
social projects.
The sums paid were in full and final
settlement of the original agreement, and
effectively liberated Trafigura from any further
responsibility regarding decontamination. 652
Despite the substantial work done to
clean up and decontaminate the affected
areas, several sources have documented
serious failures in the process, including
some sites not being properly dealt with,
even several years after the dumping.
Following a visit to Abidjan two years after
the dumping in August 2008, the UN Special
Rapporteur on Toxic Waste and Human Rights
expressed concern that the sites had not yet
been decontaminated and that they “continue
to pose a threat to the health of thousands of
people.” 654 The Rapporteur also noted that
people continued to complain of headaches,
skin lesions, nose, throat and lung problems, as
well as digestive problems. 655
When Amnesty International visited Abidjan
in February 2009, researchers found large
bags containing contaminated material on
the outskirts of Djibi village and along the
Route d’Alépé. These bags had been left
lying in heaps next to a major road which
local villagers use on a daily basis. The bags
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Chapter 12