Notice #1: Pollution in the Ivory Coast
1.) On the applicable law concerning cargo residues or ship-generated waste:
The cargo residues pumped in Abidjan on August 19 and 20th from the tanks of the Probo Koala are not beholden to the Basel Convention, which theoretically obliges countries exporting waste and the countries importing them to establish a bilateral dossier giving evidence that the first does not have adequate techniques of treating these wastes and that the second has adequate available techniques or still that the exported waste are beneficially useful to the importing country. The Basel Convention excludes ship-generated waste from its jurisdiction in its founding text.
However, and just to satisfy the juridical vacancy, the European directive on facilities for port reception of ship-generated waste and cargo residues (2000) requires all ships nearing ports of the European community to unload their waste in designated facilities. The treatment, beneficial usage, and elimination of exploited waste and cargo residues must conform to European legislation, notably that concerning used oils and dangerous waste.
Insofar as the Probo Koala was already loaded with its cargo waste in the European ports that it entered in July 2006 before making its way towards Lagos and Abidjan, it is in violation of the European legislation and the national law of European States where it called into port before its incursion into the southern hemisphere.
This scenario, which seems the most plausible in view of declarations from the both ship owner and the charterer stationed in Europe, implies then a conspiracy on their part and a negligence of European authorities allowing the actions of important economies to the detriment of the sanitary and environmental state of a totally disorganized and economically stricken country. The treatment of these polluted sludge and their elimination would cost in Europe 400-500 euros per m³, 10-15 times more than in the Ivory Coast.
The hypothesis that some liquid or paste waste were mixed with cargo residues just for the purpose of dodging the Basel Convention cannot be ruled out.
