From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Locust pesticided dumped in Somali
Date: 16 Apr 92 15:49:04 GMT

/* Written  1:39 am  Apr 15, 1992 by web:greenbase in cdp:en.pesticides */
/* ---------- "LOCUST PESTICIDES DUMPED IN SOMALI" ---------- */
TL: Pesticides in Somalia; Locust Control; Accidents
SO: Greenpeace International (GP) 
DT: April 3, 1992
Keywords: Toxics pesticides africa somalia accidents insecticides
spills /

BRIEFING REPORT
PESTICIDES PROJECT
GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL

Bill Barclay

APRIL 3, 1992


ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY: LOCUST PESTICIDES DUMPED IN SOMALIA  
A massive spill of up to 100,000 liters of toxic pesticides has
recently been discovered in northern Somalia at the Main
Operations Base (MOB) pesticide warehouse of the Desert Locust
Control Organization for East Africa (DLCO-EA).  Water runoff
from the hilltop MOB site feeds into the main dry river bed,
containing numerous drinking water wells, of the city of
Hargeysa.  With the start of the rainy season in late April, the
spilled pesticides are posed to irreversibly contaminate the
drinking water supply of Hargeysa, Somalia's second largest city.


More than 100,000 liters of malathion, fenitrothion, dieldrin,
BHC and diazinon are known to have been stored in large metal
containers at the DLCO-EA warehouse.  Most of these pesticides
are now believed to have been dumped out of their containers at
the site.

The MOB site sat unguarded since the outbreak of civil war in the
area in May of 1988.  Local persons subsequently entered
the site and, valuing the metal containers for various purposes
including water storage, began emptying the pesticides on the
ground in order to take the drums.  It is not yet clear when the
dumping began, but authorities seem to have become more aware of
the gravity of the situation in recent months.  They are now
appealing for international help.

Severe drought over the last two years so far appears to have
limited the spread of the pesticides away from the site. 
However, if normal rainfall returns with the start of the 1992
rainy season, the pesticides could spread quickly.

A strong smell of pesticides can be detected over 200 yards from
the pesticide depot, according to a doctor who visited the MOB
site in February of 1992.  Investigators to the site are being
advised by international experts to wear full protective clothing
and gas masks to avoid being poisoned.  There have been local
reports of animals dying after exposure to the pesticides.


Action Needed Now.

Local officials are very concerned that with the onset of the
rainy season the pesticides will wash into Hargeysa's drinking
water supply.  The DLCO-EA warehouse hilltop site is less than a
kilometer from wells which supply much of the city's 500,000
population.  Despite the presence of landmines around the
warehouse site, concerned local citzens have attempted to deal
with the situation as best they can.  Using shovels, they have
erected a crude dam hoping that this will prevent at least some
of the rainwater runoff from reaching the city's water source.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), European Economic
Community nations, Shell, Sumitomo are among the aid
organizations and pesticide companies which provided the toxic
insecticides to the DLCO-EA in Somalia for locust spraying in the
first place.    

By providing the pesticides, international donor organizations
have a primary responsibility for the situation, and therefore an
obligation to respond.  The imminient onset of the rainy season
in late April gives added urgency to the situation.  Hargeysa's
scarce water resources are at risk of being contaminated for
decades to come.  

The FAO recently established a program to deal specifically with
pesticide clean up and disposal issues in Africa.  So far FAO is 
reported to be slow to respond to the Somalia situation.  

The FAO has a long involvement as a lead agency with DLCO-EA and
chemical locust control efforts.  Personel from diplomatic
missions have recently visited the site and confirmed the
severity of the situation at Hargeysa.  FAO must insure that a
full technical team is sent quickly to initiate emergency clean
up measures.  

Emergency measures are needed to stabilize or remove the tons of
pesticide contaminated soil prior to the onset of spring rains. 
First, the site must be cleared of landmines leftover from the
civil war.  Over 18 landmines were uncovered at the site
recently, and more are presumed still in the ground.  Once
cleared of landmines, bulldozers and other equipment could then
be used to attempt to stabilize the situation over the short-
term, as judged appropriate to protect the area.  

More extensive site and soil detoxification efforts would then
need to take place at a later date as the political situation in
the area improves.


Somalia Devestated.

Somalia has been gripped by an all out civil war over the last
three years which has claimed over 75,000 lives.  Combined with
two years of drought, some international organisations are
estimating up to half of the Somalia's five million population is
at risk of famine in the coming year.

Hargeysa was particularly hard hit by the war.  About 90 percent
of the buildings in Hargysa were destroyed or seriously damaged
in the fighting.  Basic services like electricity, running water,
transportation and telephones are virtually non-existent. 
Landmines pepper the city.  

Hargeysa and the surrounding area has been controlled since May
1991 by the Somali National Movement, which has declared it the
capital of an independent country, the Republic of Somaliland. 
So far no other country has given Somaliland political
recognition.    
The local government is virtually broke, and has no resources for
pesticide detoxification efforts.  They are appealing to
international agencies for help.


Suggested Contact:

Harry van der Wult, director of FAO's Pesticide Disposal Program,
FAO, via della Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.  Insist
that FAO move quickly to stabilize the situation in Hargeysa.

References:

Barclay, B., and Steggall, J., 1992.  Obsolete Pesticides Crisis. 
Global Pesticide Campaigner, vol 2(1) February, PAN North
America, San Francisco.
Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States,
1990.  A Plague of Locusts: Special Report.  US Government
Printing Office, Washington.  129 pp.

_________________________________________________________________ 

TABLE 1: PARTIAL LIST OF PESTICIDES LOCATED AT THE DLCO PESTICIDE
STORAGE FACILITY IN HARGEYSA, SOMALIA AS OF OCTOBER, 1987.

Pesticide      Amount              Approx. year(s) donated

BHC            42,800 liters       1961
Dieldrin       22,944 liters       1961-68
Diazinon          800 liters       1981
Malathion       4,800 liters       1969, 1978

Note:  This list only includes those pesticides classified as
needing disposal as of mid 1987.  Other pesticides in storage at
the same facility, considered at the time to still be useful,
were not listed in the original report.

Source for Table:  Evaluation of disposal options re: Pesticide
wastes in East Africa -- The Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somolia. 
Mimeo, October 1987, The World Environment Center.  102 pp.  
In addition to the pesticides given above, the Fifth Annual DLCO-
EA report, issued June 1987 is reported to list Accothion
(fenitrothion) and a variety of smaller quantities of
experimental chemicals, according to a correspondent who is
familiar with the situation.  Total pesticides at the site are
said to have been reported to be close to 100,000 liters.   Few
if any of these are likely to have been used for locust control
since the 1987 report, given the extent and timing of political
violence.  Thus the DLCO-EA report should provide further
insights into what has been dumped, when a copy can be located.

________________________________________________

ANNEX: LOCUST CONTROL PROGRAMS


Spray a Locust...

A major underlying factor to the toxic nightmare in Somalia is
decades of inept and mis-guided efforts by the FAO and others to
"help" African countries respond to periodic locust plagues.    
The real beneficiaries of these locust programs are not poor
African farmers, as is so often stated.  Rather, pesticide
manufacturers profit from selling massive quantities of their
products.  Politicians in African cities win rural support by
sending spray planes, which create the appearance that the
government is doing something to help.  It little matters to the
pesticide manufacuturers or the politicians if the programs
really provide effective locust control or not, as long as they
are perceived to do so.     

A recent U.S. government study by the Office of Technology
Assessment reviewed the locust control efforts, and was sharply
critical of the massive pesticide donations.  While more than
$275 million was spent from 1986-89 by international donors for
wide area pesticide spraying of locusts, the OTA could find no
clear evidence to determine if pesticide spraying is an effective
way to control locust swarms.  

In fact, weather seems to be a much bigger factor in limiting
locust plagues than pesticides.  Pesticide spraying may in fact
prolong outbreaks by constantly thinning rapidly reproducing
populations and thus maintaining swarm vigor.  

Nor could the OTA find good evidence to support the assertion
that locust swarms create famines in contemporary Africa, another
commonly given donor rationale for justifying the massive spray
programs.

(Not surprisingly, the FAO and other aid agencies do not agree
with these OTA findings.  The FAO has historically played a big
role, in the massive use of chemical pesticides for locust
control
programs.)


...Make a Toxic Time Bomb.

Locust outbreaks reliably prompt pesticide manufacturing
countries and international aid agencies to ship huge quantities
of their toxic products to Africa as emergency "assistance". 
These pesticides are stockpiled under dangerous conditions in
warehouses in scores of locations throughout Africa.  Unused
portions
accumulate for decades.  These sites are now documented toxic
timebombs.

The nightmare at Hargeysa is the latest twist in a long string of
environmental disasters which have plagued the internationally
funded locust pesticide spray programs.  Extremely serious
pesticide spills and contamination of the environment have been
reported at locust control pesticide warehouses in over a dozen
countries from Morocco to Ethiopia.
  
Over 7 million kilos of obsolete pesticides requiring disposal
have so far been identified in the region.  Cleanup costs have
been preliminarily estimated by the FAO at $100 million, and are
still climbing.  

Pesticides donated for locust control programs in Africa now run
the risk of having created toxic cleanup costs in excess of the
value of the original pesticide donations themselves.  


Defusing the Bomb.

Niger recently participated in a "return-to-sender" scheme for
it's stocks of obsolete dieldrin.  The dieldrin  was shipped back
to Holland, where it had been originally manufactured, with the
assistance of Shell, the maker of the widely banned pesticide. 
These efforts need to be extended more widely throughout the
region.

The time has also long since come for international donor
organizations to support the rapid development of non-chemical
ecological approaches to locust management.  

Indeed, a relatively small donor grant to the UK based
Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control has already yielded
promising new non-chemical locust management tools.  Locust
populations were surveyed throughout Africa to discover natural
diseases which can help limit outbreaks, and a number of
promising locust specific diseases have been isolated and
cultured.  

Combined into a sustained preventative approach to locust
control, these new biological control tools offer the opening for
a new era of environmentally sound and socially just non-toxic
locust management programs.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african,alt.discrimination,alt.politics.correct