European Dumping Of Toxic Waste Off Coast Of Somalia Helped Create Pirates

(This was originally published January 6, 2009, but I am republishing it because it helps explain how the world got into this mess off the coast of Somalia)

The world now knows of the Somali pirates operating off their country’s coast and the capture and ransom of ships from around the world. Slowly world action is taking place to combat the barbaric acts as navies of the world’s nations respond.

However, the Somali piracy problem is a lot more complicated than it appears. Ever since the collapse of President Siad Barre’s government in 1991, Somalia has endured an anarchic existence. European and some Asian companies have taken advantage of that anarchy to turn the Somalia coast into a toxic dump.

It appears that most of the dumping is connected to the Italian mafia, which has found that it costs only $2.50 a ton to dispose of toxic waste of the coast of Somalia instead of $250 a ton at legal European dumps.

Although no one is claiming that any government is responsible for the act, none of the world’s governments will do anything about it either.

The toxic mess came to light when a 2004 tsunami washed tons of unknown waste onto Somali beaches. Nick Nuttall of the United Nations Environment Programme said this to Al-Jazeera:

“Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there.

“And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes – you name it.”

Nuttall also said that since the containers came ashore, hundreds of residents have fallen ill, suffering from mouth and abdominal bleeding, skin infections and other ailments.

European and Asian have also fished the Somali coast indiscriminately, impacting the take of Somali fishermen.

While many of the Somali pirates are simply thugs looking to make an easy paycheck, others are calling themselves a coast guard. They are former fisherman whose livelihoods have been destroyed by illegal fishing and dumping by foreigners.

In The Statesman:

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury, you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention.”

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. Europeans have destroyed their own fish stocks by over-exploitation, and have now moved on to Somalia’s. More than $300 million worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving.

Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka, 100 km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”

This is the context in which the “pirates” have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia, and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence”.

Clearly, the problem with Somali piracy is a lot more complicated than a few gangsters interrupting world shipping.