South Sudan ignores reports on oil pollution, say groups

PALOCH: The oil industry in South Sudan has left a landscape pocked with hundreds of open waste pits, the water and soil contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals including mercury, manganese, and arsenic, according to four environmental reports obtained by The Associated Press.

The reports also contain accounts of “alarming” birth defects, miscarriages and other health problems among residents of the region and soldiers who have been stationed there.

Residents describe women unable to get pregnant and having excessive numbers of miscarriages, and babies born with severe birth defects.

Abui Mou Kueth’s infant son, Ping, was born with six fingers on both hands, one stunted leg, a deformed foot and kidney swelling.

“I was shocked the first time I saw the baby,” she said, cradling him in her arms.

She said he was not able to breastfeed and needed special formula. “I am worried about his future.”

The AP obtained the reports and supporting documents from people with close knowledge of the oil operations, one of whom works in the industry. The reports have never been released publicly.

The reports, which date as far back as 2013, were presented to the oil companies and South Sudan’s ministry of petroleum but subsequently buried, according to four people with close knowledge of the oil operations and the documents.

All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety.

“South Sudan is running one of the dirtiest and poorest managed oil operations on the planet,” said Egbert Wesselink, the former head of a European coalition of more than 50 nonprofit organisations focused on the impacts of the country’s oil sector. He worked on the oil fields in South Sudan before the country gained independence in 2011, and now works with PAX, a Dutch-based human rights organization.

“I don’t think there’s a single major industrial operation on earth that’s getting away with this,” he said.