Africa: Twenty Years After Probo Koala, Africa Still Grapples With 'Waste Colonialism'

What the report says

Twenty years after the Probo Koala toxic waste scandal in Côte d’Ivoire, the case remains a major reference point in debates over cross-border dumping and so-called “waste colonialism,” according to RFI in an article distributed by AllAfrica. The report says more than 500 tonnes of harmful material from the cargo ship were dumped at 18 sites around Abidjan on 19 August 2006, with official figures citing 17 deaths and tens of thousands of people reporting poisoning symptoms.

The article highlights how the disaster still affects victims and communities such as Akouédo in Abidjan’s Cocody district. It also revisits the legal aftermath: Trafigura, the commodities trader implicated in the case, reached a 2007 settlement with the Ivorian government worth €152 million for cleanup and compensation, but victims’ groups have long argued that the deal limited their ability to pursue further legal action in Côte d’Ivoire.

RFI notes that legal challenges continued abroad, including in the Netherlands, and that the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled in 2023 that Côte d’Ivoire’s compensation arrangements were inadequate and called for a reparations fund. The article says victims are still waiting for that fund, while Ivorian authorities maintain the polluted sites were fully cleaned up by 2015.

Beyond the Probo Koala case, the report places the issue in a wider context of waste flows to Africa, including plastics, textiles and electronic waste, and says new European Union rules on waste shipments are meant to curb exports to countries without enough treatment capacity.