TED Case StudiesSomali Waste Imports

CASE NUMBER: 64 CASE MNEMONIC: SOMALIA CASE NAME: Somalia Waste Imports from Italy

A. IDENTIFICATION

1. The Issue

During the Somali civil war hazardous waste was dumped in thisAfrican nation by industrialized countries. The allegedperpetrators were Italian and Swiss firms who supposedly enteredinto a contract with the Somali government to dump waste in the warravaged African nation. The issue of dumping in Somalia is twofold in that it is both a legal question and a moral question. First, is there a violation of international treaties in theexport of hazardous waste to Somalia. Second, is it ethicallyquestionable to negotiate a hazardous waste disposal contract witha country in the midst of a protracted civil war and with agovernment that can best be described as tenuous and factionalized?

2. Description

With the abdication of President Siad Barre in 1989, thecountry of Somalia was thrown in a state of anarchy. The countryis currently ruled by a series of warlords each holding a smallsection of the country. The rival factions have been at war witheach other since the mid-eighties and a mission by the UnitedNations to stabilize the country has now ended in apparentpolitical failure. The war led to a serious famine that was solvedby the intervention. Less publicized was the exploitation of theSomalian crisis by firms who specialize in the disposal ofhazardous waste.

In the fall of 1992 reports began to appear in theinternational media concerning unnamed European firms that wereillegally dumping waste in Somalia. By most reports, severalthousand tons of waste, mostly processed industrial waste, hadalready been dumped there. It was also reported that waste wasseen being dumped off the Somali coast into the Indian Ocean. Tofurther compound the country's environmental problems, a storagefacility in northern Somalia filled with pesticides had beendestroyed during the war. The spilt chemicals and resulting firepoisoned one of the few sources of drinking water in the famineravaged country.

What caused controversy in 1992, however, was reports of acontract established between a Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and anItalian firm, Progresso, with Nur Elmy Osman, who claimed to be theSomali Minister of Health under an interim government headed by AliMahdi Muhammad. Osman had been a health official in the Barregovernment, but allegedly was no longer recognized as a governmentofficial by Ali Mahdi. Osman had supposedly entered into an $80million contract in December of 1991, whereby the two firms wouldbe allowed to build a 10 million ton storage facility for hazardouswaste. The waste would first be burned in an incinerator to bebuilt on the same site and then stored in the facility at the rateof 500,000 tons a year.

Reports of the alleged contract outraged the world community. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) investigated thematter at the urging of Somalia's neighbors and the Swiss andItalian governments. What ensued was a period of accusations asboth firms denied entering into any agreement, Osman denied signingany contract and the Swiss and Italian governments said they had noknowledge of the two firms activities.

As a result of the UNEP's investigation, the contract wasdeclared null and the facility was never built. Still it becameapparent to the UNEP's director Dr. Mustafa Tolba that the firms ofAchair Partners and Progresso were set up specifically asfictitious companies by larger industrial firms to dispose ofhazardous waste. At one point Dr. Tolba declared that the UNEP wasdealing with a mafia.

Beyond the obvious ethical question of trying to coerce ahazardous waste agreement out of an unstable country like Somalia,the attempt by Swiss and Italian firms to dump waste in Somaliaviolates international treaties to which both countries aresignatories. Switzerland has signed and ratified the BaselConvention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of HazardousWastes and their Disposal (see BASEL case). Somalia and Italy havenot signed the Basel Convention. The Basel Convention prohibits(among other things) waste trade between countries that have signedthe Convention and countries that have not signed the Conventionunless a bilateral waste agreement has been negotiated. Somaliaand Switzerland had no such bilateral agreement. The BaselConvention also prohibits shipping hazardous waste to a war zone.

Although not a signatory to the Basel Convention, Italy hassigned the fourth Lome Convention. It is the only country inEurope to do so. Italy signed the Lome Convention in order to"prove" its good intentions with regard to the disposal hazardouswaste. No reason is given for Italy's failure to sign the BaselConvention (see NIGERIA case). Article 39 of the Lome Conventionclearly prohibits the export of waste to Africa as well as theCaribbean and the Pacific.

3. Related Cases

BARREL case MEDIT case JELLYWAX case KHAIN case BASMEX case

Keyword Clusters

(1): Trade Product = WASTE (2): Bio-geography = DRY (3): Environmental Problem = Pollution Land [POLL]

4. Draft Author: Michael Poaletta

B. LEGAL Clusters

5. Discourse and Status: DISagreement and COMPlete

6. Forum and Scope: SOMALia and BILATeral

The case is both internal to Somalia and external to the BaselAgreement, since all three parties are signatories.

7. Decision Breadth: 3 (Somalia, Italy and Switzerland)

8. Legal Standing: TREATY

These exports should have come under controls of the Baselagreement to which all three parties are members.

C. GEOGRAPHIC Clusters

9. Geographic Locations

a. Geographic Domain : MIDEAST b. Geographic Site : HORN OF AFRICA [HORN] c. Geographic Impact : SOMALia

10. Sub-National Factors: YES

The export of the waste was tied to the breakaway republic ofSomaliland.

11. Type of Habitat: DRY

C. TRADE Clusters

12. Type of Measure: IMBAN

In this case the attention of the United Nations and theinternational community forced the Somali government (which may ormay not have known about the contract) to recant the allegedagreement.

13. Direct vs. Indirect Impacts: DIRect

The measure is direct because it would ban the importation ofthese waste products.

14. Relation of Measure to Environmental Impact

a. Directly Related : YES WASTE b. Indirectly Related : NO c. Not Related : NO d. Process Related : YES Pollution Land, POLL

15. Trade Product Identification: WASTE

16. Economic Data

Given the few operating industries in Somalia, waste importingis probably a major source of income for Somalis.

17. Impact of Measure on Trade Competitiveness: BAN

Due to the chaotic state of the Somali Republic, no tradeprotection measures are effective at this time. It is also worthreiterating that Somalia has still not signed the Basel Conventionor the Bamako Convention, which bans the import of hazardous wastein African States.

18. Industry Sector: WASTE

19. Exporter and Importer: ITALY and SOMALia

Some fear that Africa may become a dumping ground forhazardous waste from industrialized countries such as Italy. Theprimary cause of this is cost. It has been estimated that it costsas little as $2.50 per ton to dump hazardous waste in Africa asopposed to $250 per ton in Europe.

E. ENVIRONMENT Clusters

20. Environmental Problem Type: Pollution Land [POLL]

21. Name, Type, and Diversity of Species

Name: Many Type: Many Diversity: 768 higher plants per 10,000

22. Resource Impact and Effect: MEDium and REGULatory

23. Urgency of and Lifetime: MEDium and 100s of years

24. Substitutes: Bio-degradable [BIODG] products

Europe must export these waste because they have few areasleft to fill. The ultimate solution is in cutting down the volumeof waste that is produced.

VI. OTHER Factors

25. Culture: NO

26. Trans-Border: NO

27. Human Rights: YES

The dumping of this waste threatened human health andtherefore human rights.

28. Relevant Literature

"The Deadly Trade: Toxic Waste Dumping in Africa." Africa Report (September-October 1988). "Africa: Wastebasket of the West." Business and Society Review (Fall 1988).Concern over Toxic Dumping." Times of Oman 12 (September 1992)."Italian Firm Denies Somali Waste Deal." The Guardian (September 11, 1992)."Italy Demands Inquiry on Toxic Waste Dumping in Somalia." European Information Service (September 12, 1992)."Italy Denies Export of Toxic Waste to Somalia." Agence France Presse (September 14, 1992)."Somalia: EC says it Cannot Stop Toxic Waste Dumping in Somalia." Inter Press Service (September 30, 1992)."Somalia: European Firms Dumping Toxic Wastes, UNEP to Probe." Inter Press Service (September 10, 1992). "Somalia: Italy Under Fire for Toxic Dumping Reports." Inter Press Service (September 11, 1992)."Somalia: OAU Concerned Over Toxic Waste Dumping." Inter Presse Service (September 24, 1992)."Somalia: UN, Evacuates Relief Workers, Denies Reports of Toxic Waste Dumping" The British Broadcasting Service 3 (October 1992). "Somali Government Allows Toxic Waste Dumping." Saudi Gazette 13 (September 1992)."Switzerland asks UN help on Somalia Toxic Waste Links." Reuters Limited (September 11, 1992)."Toxic Terrorism invades Third World Nations." Black Enterprise (November 1988)."Toxic Waste Joins Somalia's List of Woes." Chicago Tribune (September 11, 1992)."Toxic Waste Shipment to Somalia Believed Aborted: UNEP." Agence Presse France (October 6, 1992)."Trans-Boundary Waste: UNEP Team Explores Dumping in Somalia." Inter Press Service (September 30, 1992)."UNEP Official Urges African Nations to Approve Basel Accord on Waste." International Environment Reporter (BNA, October 7, 1992).

References