Somaliland Locals Sickened by Chinese Factory's Dumping of Chemicals into River

A Chinese tanning factory is being accused of dumping poisonous chemicals into a community water supply and causing a variety of economic and health problems for locals, but the firm responsible has seen few if any consequences because its presence in viewed as an economic necessity.

The allegations come out of Somaliland -- an internationally recognized autonomous region of Somalia -- where The Guardian reports the Jeronimo Group of Industries and Trading PLC, a subsidiary of Chinese leather glove maker Phiss, operates the tanning factory in the village of Dar-Buruq, about 40 miles outside the capital of the breakaway east African state. Tanning is the process of treating the skins of animals to produce leather. According to its website, the factory employs 60 locals and six Chinese and "produces 2,000,000 pieces of wetblue goat and sheepskins annually."

Residents and local officials suspect the dumping of chemicals by the factory is affecting public health, and the factory manager admitted to The Guardian that it dumps chemical waste into the water, but the community has seen little if any compensation and the factory goes largely unregulated. Adding to the complexity of the situation is the precarious economic state of Somaliland, which desperately needs foreign investment to prove itself as an independent nation.

People living near and working at the factory have reportedly made numerous health complaints, most of which have gone unaddressed by the factory.

"We've talked to ministers, deputy ministers. Each time our arguments are passed on to someone else," one village elder told Sean Williams, who reported the story for the Somaliland Sun and The Guardian. "The government considers that it is fighting a broader war internationally to attract foreign investors. So if this one is clamped down on it will have a negative impact on that."

The local livestock industry has also collapsed and people are blaming the tainted river water, which the animals refuse to drink, forcing their herders to move elsewhere.

The Guardian reports there is no waste-management system in place at the factory, which has been in operation in Dar-Buruq since 2008.

"If the government was worried about these health issues, they should have checked before we came," Li Fai La, the factory manager, told The Guardian. "Yes, the smell is bad but trees are growing and there are fish in the water nearby."