Clean up in Ivory Coast begins

French waste treatment experts in protective suits and masks began an operation yesterday to clean up toxic chemical slops dumped in Ivory Coast whose poisonous fumes have killed seven people and made thousands ill.

Around 25 specialists from France's Seche group deployed equipment at one of more than 10 sites in the economic capital Abidjan where a foul-smelling black sludge was deposited after being unloaded from a Panamanian-registered ship last month.

Public outcry over the dumped waste, which has forced more than 30,000 people to seek treatment for vomiting, stomach pains, nausea, breathing difficulties, nosebleeds and migraines, caused the Ivorian government to resign earlier this month.

President Laurent Gbagbo on Saturday named a new government for the divided West African state, split since a 2002-2003 civil war between a rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

The Seche group's clean-up teams yesterday entered a rubbish tip in Abidjan's Akouedo suburb where tonnes of the waste had been discarded.

"Pumping will be performed in the next couple of days," said the operation's head, Francois Salbaing.

"Technically it is not easy. We have to be very careful in handling this kind of waste. We have special procedures to avoid there being more smell than there is at this point," he said.

Seche spokesman Henri Petitgand said the clean-up could last up to two weeks.

The waste scandal has triggered an international investigation into the origin of the toxic slops, which were unloaded at Abidjan last month by a Greek-owned ship chartered by leading world commodity trader Trafigura Beheer BV.

On Friday, an angry mob protesting against the dumping of the waste attacked and beat up a minister and burned down the home of the director of Abidjan port.

Residents living near the contaminated Akouedo dump, some of whom scrape a living by recovering objects from the tip, have complained of feeling ill but say they cannot afford to leave.

They expressed relief the waste would finally be taken away.

"It is about time. ... We haven't been able to live a normal life for the last three weeks," said Roger Bion.

Authorities have so far arrested seven Ivorians and one Nigerian, including the alleged directors of the companies which handled port formalities and unloaded the ship, the Probo Koala, chartered by Dutch-based Trafigura.