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SOMALIA: Radioactive waste surfaces in the coastline – Minister

March 25, 2011 · 2125019 Comments2011-03-26+04%3A45%3A18Qalinle+Hussein

Puntland region: secret dumps of toxic waste washed ashore by tsunami 2005 Asian Tsunami (Somalitalk)

MOGADISHU — The general director of Somalia’s Ministry of Aviation and Transport raised toxic danger alert along the Somali coast on Friday days after a study was concluded.

According to Mr. Mohammed O. Ali, the once clean blue-water coast off Somalia is littered with a toxic-waste calamity of health and environment hazards that has been dumped by Western chemical and shipping firms.

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He said during a field research visit to some of the shorelines of the war torn nation, he personally witnessed the untold effect it was having on marine life and the fishing community. He added, the toxic dumping, which includes highly radioactive nuclear waste, was destroying the fragile coastal ecology and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. Some residents in Mogadishu’s coastal areas already reported hundreds of dead fish washing ashore every day.

During the height of the Somali civil war, Swiss and Italian firms Achair Partners and Progresso, signed a secret agreement with the transitional government of warlord Ali Mahdi Mohamed. Taking advantage of the chaos and the fact that Ali Mahdi was desperate for arms and cash to oust rival General Farah Aideed– the European firms began to unload thousands of tonnes of toxic waste arriving in steel drums off the coast of Somalia. Some even made it to the mainland and were buried in 40 inches by 30 inches holes.

The main perpetrators are said to be Italian firms controlled by the mafia, whose job is to dispose Europe’s extremely hazardous waste. Locals also suspect German and Danish shipping companies are in the trade, with some contracted to transport thousands of tonnes of poisonous stockpile including 60, 000 hexachlorobenzene (HCB) barrels from Australia. They say, sometimes instead of taking the hazardous waste to Europe where it can be incinerated, they dump it in the Somali coast to save money and time and also they face strong opposition from Europe’s environmental action groups.

In 2010, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish port staff refused to unload a ship carrying 3000 tonnes of HCB waste from Sydney, Australia. Furthermore they said one gram of HCB was enough to contaminate one billion gallons (over 3 billion litres) of water.

Puntland region: secret dumps of toxic waste washed ashore by 2005 Asian Tsunami (Somalitalk)

The United Nation has in the past said it has reliable information that European and Asian firms have been dumping uranium radioactive waste, lead and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury off the coast of Somalia for the last two decades. The practice has infuriated many Somali fishing communities who took on the large foreign ships with their own fishing boats and small arms. Many fishermen hijacked ships demanding ransom to clean the coastline, this eventually led to the current piracy problem. They insist there was no one to safeguard the region so they had to take matters to their own hands.

The fishermen accused the 1000 strong Western naval force off the coast of Somalia of harassment and intermediations – they say they often robbed them at sea or dismantle their fishing nets. They are not the only group in Somalia that has complained about the foreign navies and their inappropriate conduct. Several times, Somali pastoral communities said they saw Western helicopters looting Somalia’s wildlife, often coming onshore to hunt.

Mr. Ali told media in Mogadishu, his government will take necessary steps against private firms polluting the Somali coast while it will request the United Nation to assist in cleaning up. He warned private companies against dumping any more toxic waste off Somalia saying they will be prosecuted and that it will no longer tolerate them.

This was the first time such case study has been carried out since the fall of the central government in 1991. The region has became too dangerous for international environmental groups and other concern bodies to visit and fully investigate the damage. Most people believe the real incalculable damage is below the surface and it is going to require a team of expert divers and equipment.

Somalia has been mired in conflict since 1991, when armed militants toppled the central government of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The arms left behind by the government fell in the hands of warlords and have been fighting for control for twenty years.

Somalilandpress

March 25, 2011

Follow @somalilandpress

By Qalinle Hussein

Tags: coastline, Fishing, marine life, Mogadishu, pirates, radioactive, Somalia, toxic waste

ahmed says:

oh my god, poor somalis.

11:40 pm on March 25, 2011

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- Som- Djiboutiene says:
  
  Oh poor, Somalia, definitely agree, Wassap. Somalia,
  
  4:56 am on March 26, 2011
  
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Kayse says:

When I say Somalia is dead, this is exactly what I mean. Only the dead cant protect its own graveyard. Look at Somalia.

My condolences once again to Somalia. RIP.

11:54 pm on March 25, 2011

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- Som- Djiboutiene says:
  
  the Oh poor, Somalia, definitely agree, Wassap. Somalia,
  
  5:05 am on March 26, 2011
  
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Abraham says:

Foolish Southerners!! I pity them. They allowed their livelihood to be destroyed so that they can keep on begging the World and disgrace themselves to no end. I thought Mr Riyaale was bad for letting the Egyptians fish from our waters with their illegal methods, but the Southerners are altogether something else. They literally sell their souls and dignity for little. Where are their values, if any is left in them?
May the Almighty bring the Southerners back to their senses. Amen.

5:47 am on March 26, 2011

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- simply sad says:
  
  i dont even know who rated your comment, here you are pointing to others of their foolishness and yet you are so blind to your own. Its an individual who made this secret deal to dump toxic waste in somali shores, not the people. Your making it seem as though the whole of the southerners agreed to this, am sorry but try to think more clearly insead of lumping the the indiviuals resposible for this and the people togather. What struck me even more is your lack of sympathy for your fellow somalis by mocking them, it doesent matter weather they are from the south or not, they are somalis just like you. it is pricisely this sort of talk that has devided and continues to devide the somali people, i would suggest you reflect upon they you veiw and approach things, if you ask me, you and many other somalis out there are in need of a radical change.
  
  9:55 am on March 26, 2011
  
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- Hawa says:
  
  Ummm you guys are aware the wave patterns of the ocean doesn't discriminate against where it goes, right? So if something is dumped in the south it will eventually make its way up north. And please dispense with the pity, its very pretentious
  
  12:30 pm on April 2, 2011
  
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mohamed says:

By all accounts Somalia has become a graveyard for all the evils dumping grounds. What goodness could be expected to come out of brutal Mafia designed mercenary warlords ruling Somalia since 1991. the worst being the TFG. The only resilient solution is for the TFG to step down and go. Looking at the
Somalia tribalism complexities mindset one best solution power shift caretaker body could come
about from the R/wayn(Digil-Mirif-Jareer) led by the current TFG Parliment Chairman MR. Sharif Hassan Adan and his supporters. BTW Sharif Hassan has never been a stooge or a rubber stamp puppet in
the real dirty politics of the TFG from day one and he stands true to his beliefs and faith always
in any given problem(s). Therefore why not give him a break and/or chance to become the next
President now replacing President Ahmed?. One more thing..how about Somalia top leadership
changing to president and Vice President instead of this always President and Prime Minister
problems. Whatever if the Southerners of Somalia do not act to do something about the TFG
then Somalia remains dead for good in the history books.
Cheers.

8:55 am on March 26, 2011

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Adan Farah says:

@ Simply SAd.

Saxiib As far as we Somalilander are concerned . We do not share anything with Walenweyn as your name sugest .. y. Why should we care, when your own President do not care about his own people.
Why do you not ask these people who destroyed your own country Somalia :
1. Siyad BArre -from south
5. Ali Samatar-
2. Ali Mehdi -from south
3. Cabdullahi Yusuf-from bari
4. Shaikh Sharif.-from deep south.

and many others…

And why do'nt you ask your self why your political class are sitting in hotels signed treates with Foreigns killing your own people. But every one to his own. as long as you don't cross the border then you Walenwayn continue with your business. But remember dont come and start looking for your lies like somalino, or walalnimo as far as I see Djibouti and Eritrea are closer to us then you.

Why dont you go and look for that Sympathy in Walen Wayn , you remember that village who had more votes than all of Northern regions combined.

Adan Farah , Erigavo, Republic of Somaliland

2:51 pm on March 26, 2011

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- simply sad says:
  
  whats really weird is, dispite the fact that you are aware of all these problems, which is more than i know, as plaguing the somali people or "sotherners" as you so politely put it, shouldnt that appeal to your human emotions, and make you even more inclined to sympathise, these are tragic human stories, you dont even have to be a somali to feel for these people and ironically you are somali ( i think) plus even if the president of the south dosent care, does mean you shouldnt care? Surely you wouldnt want to follow the presidents footsteps if you claim to be better than him, or indeed the prevailing political class, i agree with you, their not nice people, but please dont emulate their lack of sensibility.
  
  9:41 am on March 27, 2011
  
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  - simply sad says:
    
    One more thing, another reason why you should care for the southerners apart from the fact the they are; 1 human, 2 Muslims, you speak the same language as them, share a similar if not the same history and come from the some race. Just out of interest, the Somalis are one of the most homogeneous groups in Africa, this means we are extremely intermixed and thus genetically very very close, and i think these tribal names are nothing more than names, all i see is the same people fighting, and i must admit sometimes i find this rather difficult to understand.
    
    9:44 am on March 27, 2011
    
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    - Abraham says:
      
      What you said about the Somalis 'Mr Sad':( is true, but as long as our Southern brothers support tyrants, monsters, and beasts who murder their children like flies and rape their resources all in the name of clan, then we will continue to be very judgemental.
      
      7:56 am on March 28, 2011
      
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    - Hawa says:
      
      In all honesty this is a very disgusting mindset to have. Thank God the government of Somaliland is smart enough to not take this approach and blame ALL the people of southern Somalia for the actions of certain power-hungry warlords. Step back for a minute and look at the bigger picture. This does not mean that you have to JOIN with Somalia or give up your sovereignty to understand FACTS and/or sympathize with people, SUBHANALLAH!
      
      12:49 pm on April 2, 2011
      
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iueae says:

Poor Somalia, you deserve to take hostage and ask for ransom

3:33 pm on March 26, 2011

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Eli says:

I just submitted this story to CNN and MSNBC.

I pray to God they pick this story up – the world needs to know about the suffering in Somalia.

2:44 am on April 2, 2011

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- Hilac says:
  
  Everyone should do the same and submit this story to as many groups, websites, forums, politicians, environmentalist groups as they can. So much talk about Japan's nuclear addict but they dump their radioactive wastes in Somalia then they say why Somalis kidnap ships and again throw them in "pirate" prisons instead of investigating the real causes. Also the international community is not interested finding a solution for somalia on land because its a dumping ground for them, thats why they keep their navies miles away, the only time they approach Somalia is when they want to harass fishermen or steal wild animals.
  
  God is great and He will punish those who commit injustice. Somalis need to have their faith and trust no one else.
  
  3:29 am on April 2, 2011
  
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Mustafe says:

Hmm if they cared that much about their land and country maybe they should stop killing each other and unite and resove their ongoing issues. Al-shabab needs to comprimise and change plans its matter of time before they are destroyed by forein troops. Al sharica law isnt a bad thing but thier version is taking it to another level. no watching football lol. Just stupid.

12:18 am on August 1, 2011

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Francesca says:

Africa: the dumping ground of the world :(

4:54 pm on March 6, 2012

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abu says:

look at these somalia kids…our fathers destroyed sold their land and now their children are doing again
Somaliland pretend they are not part of somali anymore…ooo please,,whatever happens to somalia,u r part of it<<<

2:16 am on January 20, 2013

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