Ugandan wanted over leaking acid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/7300483.stm

Version 0 of 1.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Ugandan businessman implicated in a toxic leak in Mombasa on Kenya's coast.

Mombasa magistrate ordered the arrest after Uwitije Venna, a director of the Southern Enterprise Transport Company, failed to appear in court.

Hundreds of people say they have become ill after a consignment of nitric acid was dumped in their neighbourhood.

Ugandan-based Kasese Cobalt Company Limited, which imported the chemical, has denied responsibility.

The KCCL says that it has been importing nitric acid without incident for the past 10 years.

Nitric acid is used in the mining of cobalt.

Mombasa Municipal Council has filed charges against the transport firm for failing to observe its environment management regulations by dumping the chemicals at Kipevu.

Witnesses told the BBC the containers were abandoned in a slum - known as Kalahari Village - near the port about a month ago by a truck driver who had noticed liquid seeping out.

Two women living in Kalahari slum claimed they had miscarriages while other slum residents complained of breathing difficulties, stomach upsets and chest pains.

The BBC's Odhiambo Joseph in Mombasa said the court rejected an appeal from the businessman's lawyers who wanted more time to trace his whereabouts.

Residents of Kipevu who claimed to have development health problems following the toxic leak have been asked to furnish the council and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) with medical reports to support their case, our correspondent says.

Last week, KCCL general manager Bob Jennings told the BBC that the leak had started while the containers were still in the Kenyan port and that his company is not responsible for the safety of containers in transit.

Mr Jennings said the shipping company - a Ugandan firm named Southern Enterprises - had informed Kenya's environment authorities about the leak at least one month ago.

But Nema says the problem was reported less than two weeks ago - when the containers had already been dumped in the residential area.