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Greenpeace blocks toxic ship used by Trafigura
26/Sep/2006: Greenpeace activists have blocked the toxic ship used by the Netherlands based company ‘Trafigura’, for dumping toxic wastes in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast on August 19.
The ship named ‘Probo Koala’ was blocked by the Greenpeace ship ‘Artic Sunrise’, in the Estonian Port of Paldiski. Greenpeace has been demanding a European enquiry in to this issue, which resulted in the death of seven people and caused pandemonium in Abidjan.
Arctic Sunrise, anchored 100 meters away from the toxic ship ‘Probo Koala’, with a banner reading ‘Toxic Trade Kills’. Greenpeace wants the ship to the impounded in Estonia, till a full criminal investigation is carried out and the perpetrators are brought to justice. Trafigura, which hired this ship for discharging a toxic chemical sludge, said that the waste discharged in Abidjan was not toxic, as it met the international safety standards. However, international safety standards require the waste to be incinerated, but in this case it was merely dumped on the land.
Helen Perivier, a Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner, said that the owners and the charter company (Trafigura) should be held accountable for the disaster in Abidjan; otherwise nothing can be done to prevent them from continuing their deadly trade in future. She wondered how the authorities allowed the ship to sail unhindered, after the pandemonium it caused in the Ivory Coast soil.
Another toxics campaigner for Greenpeace in Paldiski, Jacob Hartman, said that ‘Probo Koala’ is an example, which proves that the international regime for protection against toxic wastes is inadequate.
He wants the crucial lessons learned in this tragedy, to be used for preventing a similar one in future. He added that the ship ‘Probo Koala’ should be checked for any further toxic cargo and detained in Estonia, until all those people who are responsible for this disaster, are identified and prosecuted under international law.
K Siva
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