European Companies Dumping Toxic Waste Off Coast Of Somalia

[NorthernSpy]

Also, foreign commercial fleets stealing fish and ramming Somali fishing boats.


From Spiegel:

The outcry, addressed to the United Nations and the international community, was loud and bitter. "Help us solve the problem," said professional fisherman Muhammed Hussein from the coastal city of Marka, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the Somali capital Mogadishu. "What is happening here is economic terrorism."

Jeylani Shaykh Abdi, another Somali fisherman, added: "They are not just robbing us of our fish. They are ramming our boats and taking our nets -- including the catch."

(...)

The intruders, Hussein and Shaykh Abdi complained, used nets with very small meshsizes and fished with banned dragnets, and with dynamite in some cases. The foreign fishing boats would ram local fishing vessels, pour boiling water on them and, if they still refused to budge, shoot at them. It was not unusual for the intruders to hire Somali militias to drive away the local fishermen.

That was in 2006. The outcry was loud and clear -- but without any results.

Perhaps even worse: the dumping by foreign firms of toxic waste -- and possibly even nuclear materials -- off the Somali coast.

Somali fishermen have another problem: toxic waste. Initially dumped on land, toxic waste was increasingly dumped at sea after the collapse of the regime of former President Siad Barre in 1991. Because the country has no coast guard, for the past 20 years the Somali coastline has had no protection against European ships dumping waste at sea. Although hard evidence was rare, there have been periodic and mysterious incidents. In early 2002, tens of thousands of dead fish washed ashore at Merca, south of Mogadishu. The causes remain unclear.

In the spring of 2004, fishermen spotted two large containers floating in the water near Bosaso. Whether they were deliberately tossed overboard or accidentally fell of a container ship in rough seas is unclear. The Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, which also reached the African coast, unearthed dozens of containers of toxic waste and deposited the waste along the Somali coast. According to a United Nations report, many coastal residents suffered "acute respiratory infections, heavy coughing, bleeding gums and mouth, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin rashes, and even death."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,594457,00.html


Investigators have uncovered nine toxic dumps along Somalia's coast. Somalis didn't produce the waste, and they didn't dump it.


Why is it that the only piracy that anyone here cares about the kind that involves interfering with the commerce of affluent nations? Why does taking an American ship captain hostage inspire homicidal rage, while the poisoning of Somali kids by Europeans is met with more indifference than outrage?

[Reform]

1. K'naan On Somali Piracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kd6HAZO0nE

Somali-Canadian poet, rapper and musician says the Somali hijacking is in part a response to multinational companies dumping nuclear waste in his country.

[Turbineguy]

2. They wouldn't need to be pirates

if we gave them 7-11's to rob!

[NorthernSpy]

3. I beg your pardon?

What is that supposed to mean?

[Turbineguy]

4. Just

offering an alternative to piracy, that's all.

I seem to recall Clinton trying to do something about that area. Mistakes were made and a second chance never came. Then he tried to do something about Osama bin Laden and the repubs rose up against that too.

[MadMaddie]

9. Once again the Repugs fought something that was common

sense and would have benefitted the world. We have to make it loud and clear that what is going on is a result of Republican decisions.

[jwirr]

5. Maybe our gun boats need to patrol those waters for more than just

pirates. I was arguing with my SIL who is angry at the pirates that much of what causes this mess can be laid at the doors of our bastard multinational corporations. How long is it till we have oil depletion and have to live off our own resources?

[cali]

6. first of all, no one gave a damn about the piracy off Somalia until this incident

secondly, the dumping and illegal fishing doesn't have the drama or "a face" to fix on . Human nature is what it is.

And one more thing, heinous as this shit is, it doesn't absolve the pirates of responsibility. It's clear that they're not some pioneering heros trying to save their country, but people who are taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves.

[NorthernSpy]

7. "they're not some pioneering heros trying to save their country"

But now that they've gotten everyone's attention, what excuse do progressives in affluent nations have for not demanding that our OWN pirates be destroyed before these marauding commercial interests poison or starve any more Somalis?

[malaise]

11. Responsibility

When will Europeans and Americans take responsibility for the rape of Africa?
When will they stop raping Africa?

You're comparing piracy to what has been done to Africans and Africa for 400 years. Plueeeeeeeeez.

[NorthernSpy]

8. THANK YOU to all recommenders!

I think it's an important -- and almost completely ignored -- aspect of the pirate issue, and everyone should know about it.

[malaise]

10. The rape of Africa continues

Why does taking an American ship captain hostage inspire homicidal rage, while the poisoning of Somali kids by Europeans is met with more indifference than outrage?

Why? Europeans have been raping Africa for 400 years. That's why.

[seafan]

12. Very important. Thanks for posting.

We 'are being lied to about pirates' off Somalia.

[HooptieWagon]

13. If the pirates can capture large merchant ships with AKs and RPGs,

then certainly they can repel foreign fishing vessels and unsubstantiated toxic waste barges. I simply don't buy that line of bullshit. The pirates are hijacking boats for the simple reason that its immensely profitable for the warlords (who are paying the fishermen and militiamen quite well), and there's no central government to stop them, nor international will to deal with Somalia.

[JVS]

16. Not necessarily. Repelling waste barges has cost but no income. They'd still need to pirate

[Karenina]

14. . .

[JVS]

15. Blow up the waste dumping ships!

[sabrina 1]

17. Good questions:

Why is it that the only piracy that anyone here cares about the kind that involves interfering with the commerce of affluent nations? Why does taking an American ship captain hostage inspire homicidal rage, while the poisoning of Somali kids by Europeans is met with more indifference than outrage?

Because the lives of westerners are waaay more valuable than the lives of Africans or Middle Easterners?

[veganlush]

18. thanks for posting this..

...the other side of the story. potentially very important...

[dipsydoodle]

19. ditto

n/t