Januna Ali Jama is a spokesman for the pirates and
he says the ransom demand is a means of "reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years". "The Somali coastline has been destroyed, and we believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas." he added.
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Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy for Somalia said there is "reliable information" that European and Asian companies are dumping toxic waste, including nuclear waste, off the Somali coastline. "I must stress however, that no government has endorsed this act, and that private companies and individuals acting alone are responsible," he said Allegations of the dumping of toxic waste, as well as illegal fishing, have circulated since the early 1990s. The tsunami of 2004 literally dumped evidence of such on the beaches of northern Somalia. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) reported the tsunami had washed up rusting containers of toxic waste on the shores of Puntland. Nick Nuttall is a UNEP spokesman and has stated that when the barrels were smashed open by the force of the waves, the containers exposed a "frightening activity" that has been going on for more than decade. "Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there," he said. "European companies found it to be very cheap to get rid of the waste, costing as little as $2.50 a tonne, where waste disposal costs in Europe are something like $1000 a tonne. "And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes – you name it." Since the containers came ashore, hundreds of residents have fallen ill, suffering from mouth and abdominal bleeding, skin infections and other ailments.