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

Namibia, which achieved independence on March 21, 1990, now
belongs to the ACP countries which have banned all hazardous
waste imports to their countries under the Lomé IV treaty. In
addition, Namibia has gained membership to the Organization of
African Unity. As a member of these two international fora,
Namibia will join their respective prohibitions on the import of
toxic and nuclear wastes. 142 In fact, Namibia's constitution states
that “... the government shall provide measures against the
dumping or recycling of foreign nuclear and toxic waste on
Namibian territory.” 143
On April 20 1994, Namibia and Germany signed a bilateral
agreement to ship hazardous waste from Namibia to Germany,
but not the other way round. The Namibian Minister of Trade and
Industry, Hidipo Hamutenya, subsequently expressed in an
interview his interest in obtaining certain secondary raw material
from Germany in the future. 144
Around October 1, 1994 a German Journalist, Sigrid Nielssen,
was found dead in Windhoek. Nielssen (see also Scheme “Weser
Zink”) had been on a research tour on imports of nuclear and
hazardous waste to Namibia. Authorities said no documents
were found with the body and Nielssen obviously died of a heart
attack. 145 Neither the German FBI (BKA) nor the German
Foreign Office knew anything about Nielssen´s death in October
1994
In a meeting of various political parties on 27 January, 1995,
Prime Minister Hage Geingob proposed that members of the
National Assembly establish a Standing Committee which was to
immediately investigate allegations made by ANC´s Peter
Kayser. Kayser made allegations during his contribution to a
debate on Namibia’s accession to the Basel Convention that a
senior government person was involved in plans to dump waste
in Namibia. Allegations and rumors about toxic waste dumping
have been circulating since independence. 146
On October 8, 1992, in a TV broadcast on Germany´s ZDF
channel, unknown material in the desert of Namibia was shown.
A Geigercounter suggested radioactivity. The reporter said the
material might be from the former East German uranium
company Wismut, but no evidence was put forward. Later,
Greenpeace virtually excluded Wismut from its investigations.
The wastes were more likely to have come from East German
copper smelters or even be Namibian uranium of “natural
142
Reuters News Reports, February 25, 1990.
143
Environment Matters, June, 1990, 10/15.
144
“Vereinbarung mit Deutschland unterzeichnet,” Sigrid Nielssen,Tempo, 5th June 1994;
Greenpeace German has a copy of the document.
145
Chris Albertyn, Earthlife Afrika, in a conversation with Greenpeace, 4.10.1995
146
“NA toxic probe to be launched today,” Chris Ndivanga, The Namibian, Jan.30,1995
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