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Ivory Coast: Over 50 protesters block main road in capital
Tue. June 26, 2007 12:11 pm.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) Some 50 protestors briefly blocked one of the main roads in the Ivorian capital Abidjan as well as the entrance to a site in the capital's Akouedo district where some of the toxic waste was dumped in a demonstrating against a proposed government pay-out to victims of toxic waste poisoning by a Dutch company.
The families of the 16 victims who died will each receive €152 000 (about R1,4-million) in compensation out of the €152-million compensation package, according to details released last week by President Laurent Gbagbo's office.
However, the bulk of the funds paid out by the multinational Trafigura in settlement for the August 2006 pollution outbreak will be retained by the state for development projects.
"Akouedo is one of the areas most affected by the toxic waste, but the government, instead of siding with us, has carved up the damages for itself," a spokesperson for the residents, Rachel Gogoua, told AFP.
"We tried to talk to the presidency yesterday, to no avail. And today, while demonstrating for our rights, we have been chased out of our district. Instead of investigating the consequences of the pollution, the police have come just to beat us," she said.
The proposed share-out of the compensation funds were rejected on Monday by several victims' associations.
Trafigura had chartered a ship, which unloaded nearly 600 tons of caustic soda and petroleum residues which were then dumped by a local firm at 16 open air public waste sites across the economic capital of the west African country.
As the fumes from the waste spread across the city, more than 100 000 people sought medical attention, 16 died and 69 were sent to hospital.-AFP
News Category: Africa
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