POPs IN AFRICA HAZARDOUS WASTE TRADE 1980 - 2000 ... - Arte

eached a ‘secret agreement’ with Benin to dump” radioactive
waste in Benin. 34
Scheme: Soviet Radioactive Waste
Date: 1988
Type of Waste: Radioactive Waste
Source: Soviet Union
Exporter: Soviet Government
Pretext/Fate: Dumping
Status: Unclear
In April 1988, the BBC reported that the Soviet Union may have
dumped radioactive wastes in Benin. However, on August 18,
1988, Soviet radio commentator Aleksey Litvinov called the
BBC’s reports “rumors and falsehoods. We in the Soviet Union
firmly support the struggle waged by the African people against
ecological imperialism, and together with them come out against
any burial of nuclear or other industrial waste” in Africa. 35
Scheme: Ciraltar
Date: 1988
Type of Waste: Toxic
Source: Europe
Exporter: Ciraltar, Ltd.
Pretext/Fate: Dumping
Status: Unclear
On November 23, 1988, the Committee for the Defense of
Human Rights in Benin made allegations that the Beninoise
government had agreed to accept European waste. According to
the Committee, the government signed a contract with a London
firm, Ciraltar Ltd., on January 8, 1988. The Beninoise
Ambassador to Nigeria, Patrice Houngavou, denied the
Committee’s charges. According to the ambassador, Benin “did
not and will never sign any agreement to import poison.” 36
Scheme: German copper slags
Date: 1992
Type of Waste: Copper Slag
Source: Germany
Exporter: Unknown
Pretext/Fate: Unknown
Status: Actual
On October 8, 1992 the German television channel ZDF aired
footage showing copper slags in plastic bags in a Benin port.
The reporter said that according to the freight papers it was
“copper slag from Germany”. He said an analysis had shown
high amounts of PCBs and Ortho-xyloles.
34 A. George, Observer (U.K.), May 29, 1988; “Scandal of Toxic Waste Dumped on Africa,” Manchester Guardian Weekly, July 10, 1988; West Africa, June 20, 1988.
35 Tass via BBC Monitoring Service, August 9, 1988; Moscow Radio via BBC Monitoring Service, August 18, 1988.
36 Xinhua, November 29, 1988.
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