Somali authorities are warning the public not to go near a sealed barrel that has washed up on the shores of Puntland, amid suspicions that it may contain hazardous materials, The sealed blue container has a rope attached to it and officials suspect it was left in the water by people dumping hazardous waste..
It was found in the Mudug region of central Somalia, where beaches are generally pristine and sandy, The barrel washed up this week in Ilfohshe, near the town of Jariban, about 900-km north-east of the Somali capital Mogadishu, “People at Ilfohshe and the coastal communities in Mudug region are particularly alerted to distance themselves from strange containers that are likely to contain poison and could enclose explosive materials. Such hazard can affect the people and the environment,” the police said in a statement.
This is not the first time that coastal communities have encountered strange containers floating in their waters, In 2004, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found barrels of unknown material on the coast near Puntland, Unknown companies from Europe were initially blamed for using Somalia’s poorly policed waters to dump toxic waste. But UNEP’s analysis did not confirm the toxicity of the substances dumped into the waters at the time.
There have been no proper assessments of the intensity of such dumping, but some estimates suggest that up to 35 million tonnes of waste have been illegally dumped in Somali waters, including medical, agricultural, nuclear and industrial waste, These materials have affected the activities of local fishermen and have been blamed for fuelling sea piracy as locals seek alternative sources of income, or to prevent illegal dumping.
