Trafigura case walkout
Published:Thursday | October 9, 2008 | 9:58 AM
The trial of nine people in Ivory Coast accused of involvement in the dumping of 500 tons of chemical waste around the port of Abidjan has been suspended.
Five defence lawyers walked out in protest at the fact that no one from the Dutch firm Trafigura, which transported the waste was in court.
The UN said that the chemical waste caused the deaths of 16 people.
The court will now try to mediate with the lawyers.
If this fails, they could then in theory be replaced but analysts say that other lawyers may not be willing to take the case.
The key frustration has been the failure of the court to bring in anyone from Trafigura.
In an earlier out of court settlement, Trafigura agreed to pay the Ivorian government about $US200 million in one of the largest payments of its kind.
But the company never admitted liability, saying the payment was made out of sympathy for the Ivorian people.