Maurizio Dematteis, with the Italian environmental umbrella…
2001 CE
Maurizio Dematteis, with the Italian environmental umbrella Ligambiente 2001, says there are already more than 600,000 tonnes of radioactive waste on the floor of the Atlantic ocean along the coast of the western Sahara.
He also said there were three enormous illegal dumps - among the largest in the world - in Somalia, where workers handle the radioactive waste without any kind of safeguard or protective gear - not even gloves.
The workers do not know what they are handling, and if one of them dies, the family is persuaded to keep quiet with a small bit of cash, the activist added.
Dematteis believes the murder of Ilaria Alpi, a young journalist with Italy's state TV station RAI, was linked to the trafficking of guns and radioactive waste.
Alpi was killed in Somalia on March 20, 1994, apparently after she discovered too much about those illegal activities.
(Source: Common Dreams News Center: The InterPress Service, may 8, 2001.
Poor Countries - the North's Radioactive Dump by Jorge Piña.