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Task force set up to clean poison lakes

    ABIDJAN

    Cameroon’s government on Tuesday inaugurated an inter-ministerial task force to supervise the cleaning of volcanic lakes whose gases killed hundreds of people in 1986 and continue to endanger nearby populations.

    Officials at the country’s Ministry of Territorial Administration told IRIN on Wednesday that the body, chaired by Prime Minister Peter Musonge, would seek international funds for cleaning up lakes Nyos and Monoum.

    An official in the ministry’s Civil Protection Directorate said that it was sensitising people living near the lakes to the dangers posed by its gases.

    Lake Nyos erupted in 1986 spewing carbon dioxide and killing nearly 1,700 people.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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