MOGADISHU, 12 March 2005 — After dozens of people along Somalia’s coast have shown unusual medical symptoms in recent weeks, concern is growing that December’s tsunami waves washed up dumped hazardous waste on the country’s beaches. Aweys Ahmed Mohamed, who is part of a fishing crew at the Elma’an natural port close to capital Mogadishu, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that several crew members “are coughing and some of them die within 36 hours, before we even reach the doctor”.
He said the dead had all had high fever, “weakness”, as well as nose bleeding. “Before the tsunami the situation was OK, but now we are afraid of the sea”, he said. A doctor at the Madina hospital in Mogadishu, Sheekdoon Salad Elmi, said he was convinced that radioactive waste was affecting both people and animals in Somalia. “I stopped eating fish because I don’t know what is in the sea”, he said.
According to a recent report by the UN Environmental Program, coastal villagers in Somalia are suffering from unexplained acute respiratory infections, dry heavy coughing, mouth bleeds, abdominal hemorrhages, unusual skin disorders as well as breathing difficulties. The organization said the symptoms were similar to those associated with radiation exposure.
According to the UN, toxins such as uranium lead, cadmium, mercury as well as industrial, hospital and chemical waste was dumped in Somali waters by European firms in the late 1980s. The dumping continued after the 1991 overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre. Since then, the country has had no central government and has thus been unable to monitor or prevent dumping in its waters.