The Wire

The Dutch ship Probo Koala offloaded four hundred tonnes of unspecified ‘slops’ around Abidjan, the capital city of the Ivory Coast, on the 19th of August this year. Just over one month later, seven people are dead and forty-four thousand have sought medical attention. Their symptoms included burns, difficulty breathing, nausea, and vomiting blood. The public outcry over the waste dumping was so great that the Ivory Coast’s entire 32-man government resigned, with the exception of the Prime Minister. But today the ship’s company, Trafigura Beheer, issued a statement saying the waste was not toxic and that it met international safety standards. The 1989 Basel Convention was designed to stop developed nations dumping hazardous waste in developing nations. However, a number of key nations, such as the United States and Australia, still have not ratified the Basel Convention, and the Ivory Coast disaster looks set to test its power.