The new environment minister of Somalia's non-resident government has urged the UN to examine the nature of the possible hazardous waste washed ashore in the country following the recent tsunami disaster. The minister, Mohamed Osman Maye, said reports of unusual illnesses and hazardous waste are reaching the government, based in Kenya. Some of the waste might even be radioactive.
"The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP)should assist my ministry to send a team of environmental experts jointly composed of Somalis and UNEP staff...to identify the...types of the dumped hazardous debris and their origins," Maye urged. He also referred to some sketchy reports of foreign ships dumping hazardous waste along Somalia's coast for over a decade and rued that they could not be investigated. Somalia's new government was formed in 2004 in Kenya; it hasn't returned to its country due to security reasons.
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