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Xinhua News Service MAPUTO, Mozambique, 22 August 2001 -- The Danish government Wednesday said that it will cease funding any project aimed at the incineration and export of toxic waste believed to spread throughout Mozambique. However, it will continue to disburse between 5 and 6 million U.S dollars per year in support of the southern African country's environmental clean-up programs, Danish Ambassador to Mozambique Thomas Schjerbeck said here in Maputo. This measure is taken in view of the fact that the objectives of a project to export obsolete pesticides had not been complied with completely, according to Schjerbeck. Through the assistance from the official Danish Aid Agency, the Mozambican government has collected some 900 tons of toxic waste, and planned to incinerate it in a cement factory in the southern city of Matola. But this caused a public black-lash. Matola residents and environmentalists opposed the measure, and Greenpeace [BAN Note: BAN also signed and organized the letter, please find this correspondence in Library of BAN website] and the South African Environmental Justice Networking Forum wrote a protest letter to the Danish government. Hamstrung by the growing opposition, the Danish government agreed to foot the bill for the export of the toxic waste to be incinerated in Europe. But Schjerbeck argued that the measure was taken because there had been a resistance to the establishment of an internal capacity in the country for the incineration of toxic waste as it is done in Denmark and other countries. Denmark, he said, incinerates about 100,000 tons of waste a year in a process more or less equal to what was supposed to be done in Mozambique. "I think that the fight carried out by some Mozambican NGOs (non- governmental organizations) opposing the creation of an internal capacity to deal with toxic waste was counterproductive,"the Danish ambassador said. He lamented that the "adopted alternative of exporting pesticides as a last resort shows clearly that Mozambique still doesn't have a solution for the problem". Schjerbeck completely ruled out the possibility of his country giving support for future projects related to obsolete pesticides, arguing that Mozambique should find its own solution. On its part, the Mozambican government has said that it will start drafting projects to collect and destroy pesticides with the support of non-identified partners. Copyright 2001 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY August 22, 2001 (c)The Pawtucket Times 2001 FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. More News |