The failed East African nation-state of Somalia, ravaged by famine and internecine warfare during the 1990s, is reputed to be a secret repository of vast amounts of toxic waste from Europe, a rumor that began to circulate in 1992.

Never disproven, the story gains a new twist in late January, 2002, when the mysterious deaths of thousands of fish and other sea life, whose bodies are being washed ashore along the Kenyan and Somali coastlines, raise new questions about toxic pollutants in the sea near Somalia.

Let's examine this tale of toxic waste more closely: