LONDON - Oil-trading company Trafigura said Sunday it has agreed to a settlement with people who claim they fell ill after a tanker dumped hundreds of tons of waste around the Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan.
A spokeswoman for Trafigura Beheer BV said the company will pay 950 pounds ($1,546) per person but denied that the toxic waste has caused serious harm. She spoke anonymously in line with company policy. Trafigura would not comment on how many people it will pay, but British law firm Leigh Day, which brought the lawsuit, has said the case involves 30,000 people.
Trafigura said in a statement that the waste from the tanker Probo Koala could have caused "low level flulike symptoms and anxiety." It said there was no evidence the waste caused deaths, miscarriages, stillbirths, birth defects or other serious conditions.
Trafigura insists the waste was not toxic but had a mix of gasoline residues, water and caustic sodas used for cleaning.
A U.N. expert on toxic waste, Okechukwu Ibeanu, said, however, that there appeared to be a connection between the waste and deaths and illnesses suffered by the local population. In a report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council last week, Ibeanu said 15 people had died and 69 were hospitalized after the waste was offloaded in Abidjan in August 2006.
"There seems to be strong prima facie evidence that the reported deaths and adverse health consequences are related to the dumping of the waste from the Probo Koala," he said in his report. Ibeanu said he did not have access to the death certificates of those who died, but said they were all in the vicinity of the dumping sites and fell ill shortly after being exposed to the toxic waste.
He said thousands of people visited health-care centers in Abidjan after the waste was dumped, complaining of nausea, headaches, vomiting, abdominal pains, skin reactions, pulmonary and gastric problems.
"It could not have been a coincidence that thousands of people in the immediate aftermath of this event showed consistent symptoms," he told a news conference Thursday.
Ibeanu said he is not offering a view on whether Trafigura was legally liable for the incident. But he recommended the company continues to provide financial assistance to the government of the Ivory Coast to help them pay for decontamination, health care and compensation for any victims.
Several thousands of people sought medical treatment after waste from a tanker chartered by Trafigura was offloaded at several sites around Abidjan in August 2006. Trafigura has said it does not accept legal liability for the incident as the dumping was carried out by a local contractor that acted independently of Trafigura. The owner of the local company was jailed for 20 years in the Ivory Coast last year after being convicted of poisoning.
Trafigura, which is registered in the Netherlands with an office in Britain, said it regretted the incident and accepted that the waste had a deeply unpleasant smell that distressed the local population, but denied that it could cause serious harm.
Trafigura Director Eric de Turckheim said: "Over the past three years, the company has been the target of numerous attacks which have wrongly asserted that Trafigura's actions led to deaths and serious injuries.
"These accusations have now been found to be baseless."
He added: "We have at all times sought to discharge our economic and social commitment to the West Africa region and this settlement is consistent with that philosophy."
Yao Pepira, a spokesman for the victims in the Ivory Coast said they were pleased with the settlement, but they also wanted Trafigura to contribute towards health-care costs and compensate thousands of other victims who are not named in the Leigh Day law suit.
Pepira added that the Ivorian government had given each victim 300 euros ($441). He did not say how many people had received that money.
Trafigura paid Ivory Coast's government euro152 million (US$197 million) in 2007 to assist in cleaning up the waste without admitting responsibility. Three Trafigura officials were held temporarily in an Ivorian prison but later released without charge.
Trafigura still faces a criminal investigation in The Netherlands, for possibly exporting hazardous waste.
Leigh Day was not immediately available for comment.
A spokeswoman for Trafigura Beheer BV said the company will pay 950 pounds ($1,546) per person but denied that the toxic waste has caused serious harm. She spoke anonymously in line with company policy. Trafigura would not comment on how many people it will pay, but British law firm Leigh Day, which brought the lawsuit, has said the case involves 30,000 people.
Trafigura said in a statement that the waste from the tanker Probo Koala could have caused "low level flulike symptoms and anxiety." It said there was no evidence the waste caused deaths, miscarriages, stillbirths, birth defects or other serious conditions.
Trafigura insists the waste was not toxic but had a mix of gasoline residues, water and caustic sodas used for cleaning.
A U.N. expert on toxic waste, Okechukwu Ibeanu, said, however, that there appeared to be a connection between the waste and deaths and illnesses suffered by the local population. In a report presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council last week, Ibeanu said 15 people had died and 69 were hospitalized after the waste was offloaded in Abidjan in August 2006.
"There seems to be strong prima facie evidence that the reported deaths and adverse health consequences are related to the dumping of the waste from the Probo Koala," he said in his report. Ibeanu said he did not have access to the death certificates of those who died, but said they were all in the vicinity of the dumping sites and fell ill shortly after being exposed to the toxic waste.
He said thousands of people visited health-care centers in Abidjan after the waste was dumped, complaining of nausea, headaches, vomiting, abdominal pains, skin reactions, pulmonary and gastric problems.
"It could not have been a coincidence that thousands of people in the immediate aftermath of this event showed consistent symptoms," he told a news conference Thursday.
Ibeanu said he is not offering a view on whether Trafigura was legally liable for the incident. But he recommended the company continues to provide financial assistance to the government of the Ivory Coast to help them pay for decontamination, health care and compensation for any victims.
Several thousands of people sought medical treatment after waste from a tanker chartered by Trafigura was offloaded at several sites around Abidjan in August 2006. Trafigura has said it does not accept legal liability for the incident as the dumping was carried out by a local contractor that acted independently of Trafigura. The owner of the local company was jailed for 20 years in the Ivory Coast last year after being convicted of poisoning.
Trafigura, which is registered in the Netherlands with an office in Britain, said it regretted the incident and accepted that the waste had a deeply unpleasant smell that distressed the local population, but denied that it could cause serious harm.
Trafigura Director Eric de Turckheim said: "Over the past three years, the company has been the target of numerous attacks which have wrongly asserted that Trafigura's actions led to deaths and serious injuries.
"These accusations have now been found to be baseless."
He added: "We have at all times sought to discharge our economic and social commitment to the West Africa region and this settlement is consistent with that philosophy."
Yao Pepira, a spokesman for the victims in the Ivory Coast said they were pleased with the settlement, but they also wanted Trafigura to contribute towards health-care costs and compensate thousands of other victims who are not named in the Leigh Day law suit.
Pepira added that the Ivorian government had given each victim 300 euros ($441). He did not say how many people had received that money.
Trafigura paid Ivory Coast's government euro152 million (US$197 million) in 2007 to assist in cleaning up the waste without admitting responsibility. Three Trafigura officials were held temporarily in an Ivorian prison but later released without charge.
Trafigura still faces a criminal investigation in The Netherlands, for possibly exporting hazardous waste.
Leigh Day was not immediately available for comment.
