Two Men Jailed for Toxic Dumping in Ivory Coast

Two men drew prison sentences for their roles in dumping toxic waste in Ivory Coast in 2006. The waste, brought to the West African nation on a ship chartered by a Dutch oil trader, caused an international scandal when it led to the deaths of 17 people and the sickening of thousands. An Ivorian court sentenced the director of a local company, whose trucks dumped the petrochemicals in open pits around the city of Abidjan, to 20 years on a charge of “poisoning”; a shipping agent will serve five years as an accomplice. The court acquitted seven local officials in the dumping. Trafigura, the oil trader that chartered the ship, has denied any responsibility but paid the Ivory Coast government nearly $200 million in compensation. Under that settlement, Trafigura is exempt from Ivorian legal liability; the Dutch company still faces a multimillion-dollar civil suit in London, brought by 22,000 victims who say they have not been compensated.