Africa toxic waste oil deal 'close'.9/17/2009 1:25:05 PM Trafigura, an international oil company, could be close to offering compensation to 31,000 people who said they became ill from toxic waste toxic waste is waste material, often in chemical form, that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It usually is the product of industry or commerce, but comes also from residential use, agriculture, the military, medical facilities, radioactive sources, and dumped in the west African nation Ivory Coast, the company's officials have said. Trafigura, along with Leigh Day andamp; Co, a British law firm, said in a joint statement they were in settlement talks, but did not mention any compensation figure. "It currently appears that this settlement is likely to be acceptable to most, if not all, of the claimants," Trafigura and Leigh Day andamp; Co said. Claims for tens of millions of dollars in compensation stem from an incident in 2006, when petrochemical waste was dumped by a ship chartered by Trafigura on open sites around the country's largest city, Abidjan. 'Strong evidence' A UN report on the incident, released on Wednesday, showed at least 15 people died and thousands were sickened from the waste. "We still don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. , and we may never know, the full effect of the dumping," said Okechukwu Ibeanu, an independent human rights expert for the UN. "But there seems to be strong prima facie evidence prima facie evidence n. Law Evidence that would, if uncontested, establish a fact or raise a presumption of a fact. that the reported deaths and adverse health consequences are related to the dumping of the waste," Probo Koala koala (kōä`lə), arboreal marsupial, or pouched mammal, Phascolarctos cinereus, native to Australia. Although it is sometimes called koala bear, or Australian bear, and is somewhat bearlike in appearance, it is not related to true , he added. Trafigura, the world's third-largest independent oil trader, said it has "always maintained that the Probo Koala's slops could not possibly have caused deaths and serious or long-term injuries". It also denied any liability for "events that occured in the Ivory Coast". Legal proceedings All actions that are authorized or sanctioned by law and instituted in a court or a tribunal for the acquisition of rights or the enforcement of remedies. The National Federation of Victims of Toxic Waste, an Ivorian group, has said the offer of compensation offer did not go far enough. Denis Denis, king of Portugal: see Diniz. Titira Yao, president of the group, said: "They are talking about over 30,000 victims, but for us there are more than that. "We also need a long-term resolution because there is still waste in Abidjan that has not been removed and there are zones that still need cleaning up." Trafigura, a Dutch based company, agreed to an $198m out-of-court settlement An agreement reached between the parties in a pending lawsuit that resolves the dispute to their mutual satisfaction and occurs without judicial intervention, supervision, or approval. with the Ivory Coast government in 2007, which exempts it from legal proceedings in the West African country. Aljazeera.net 2003 - 2009 Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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