Customs officials in Côte d’Ivoire began a strike on Tuesday to demand the release of three colleagues imprisoned over a toxic-waste scandal, preventing registration of cocoa shipments for export, an official said.
”Ships which already have their [customs] documents signed can leave [the port] but ships which will try to obtain them today [Tuesday] will be blocked,” one customs officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
The strike started just days before the world’s number one cocoa producer was due to open its new 2006/2007 harvest season.
Customs officers in the West African country were among several officials detained over the dumping in the economic capital Abidjan in August of poisonous chemical slops unloaded from a Panamanian-registered tanker.
Eight people have died from inhaling noxious fumes from the dumped waste and thousands more have been treated in hospitals. — Reuters