Ivorian mob attacks minister in toxic waste protest

ABIDJAN, Sep 15 (Reuters) Demonstrators in Ivory Coast protesting against the dumping of toxic waste in the economic capital Abidjan today attacked and beat up Transport Minister Innocent Kobenan Anaky, an aide said.

The attack reflected mounting popular anger over the poisonous waste dumped last month around the lagoon-side city, which has killed seven people. Public outcry forced the resignation of the government of the war-divided West African state last week.

''(Anaky) was beaten up after being pulled out of his car by a crowd demonstrating this morning against the toxic waste ...

the protesters burned his car. He is seriously injured,'' Joel N'Guessan, the vice-president of Anaky's MFA party, said.

The Health Ministry said today the number of people who have died from inhaling noxious fumes from the waste rose to seven.

More than 23,000 people have sought treatment at hospitals for vomiting, nausea and breathing difficulties.

The surprise resignation of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny's cabinet injected more uncertainty into an already tangled political outlook for the world's top cocoa producer, which has been split in two since a brief 2002-2003 civil war.

Banny said late yesterday a French company, Tredi International, would begin to remove the waste from Sunday and he said the government was working to have it sent abroad.

''As the waste is gathered up, the soil will be treated in order to eliminate any trace of pollution,'' he said in a televised address. He said it was ''not necessary'' to state the chemical composition of the waste.

But foreign experts brought in to test the viscous substance, unloaded from a Panamanian-registered ship at Abidjan port last month, have said it appeared to contain hydrogen sulphide, which can be deadly in high concentrations.

Ivorian authorities have arrested seven Ivorians and one Nigerian in connection with the dumping of the waste, which was deposited in open-air sites around the city.

A leading international commodities trader, Dutch-based Trafigura Beheer BV, said it chartered the ship which unloaded the waste. It described the substance unloaded as slops, a ''mixture of gasoline, water and caustic washings''.

The company has said it advised the Ivorian authorities that the slops needed to be disposed of correctly.

Banny said national and international inquiries would be conducted to find out how the waste was dumped and four senior officials, including the heads of Abidjan port and the customs service, were suspended.

He said tap water remained safe to drink. But fishing had been banned in the Abidjan lagoon and livestock near the sites where the black sludge was dumped were being observed. Gathering of silage growing near the sites was also banned.

Market gardens near the sites would be destroyed and compensation paid, Banny said.

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