Sub-Saharan Africa Phases Out Leaded Fuel, U.N. Environment Agency Says

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All 49 Sub-Saharan Africa countries will have phased out leaded fuel from their pumps and refineries by the end of the year a U.N. environment agency said Tuesday.

NAIROBI, Kenya — All 49 Sub-Saharan Africa countries will have phased out leaded fuel from their pumps and refineries by the end of the year, part of a wider aim to improve the continent's health and environment, a U.N. environment agency said Tuesday.


South Africa will be the last country south of the Sahara desert to switch to unleaded fuel on Jan. 1, a change promised by Sub-Sahara African governments at a U.N.-sponsored conference on sustainable development in 2002, the U.N. Environment Program said.


The switchover contributed to severe shortages at gas stations in South Africa and its neighbors as holiday makers took to the road in large numbers earlier this month. Government officials accused gas companies of failing to stockpile for production shutdowns as refineries prepared to make the switch to cleaner fuels.


In North Africa, only Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and the disputed territory of Western Sahara are yet to phase out leaded fuel. Algeria does not yet have a plan to do so, the agency said.


Lead is a heavy metal that is linked to a wide range of ailments and ill health in people and infants and young children, in particular.


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The U.N. Environment Program said that now African countries will have to deal with the problem of high sulfur content in the fuel sold at its pumps.


"In Europe sulfur levels in diesel vehicle fuels are typically 10 to 50 parts per million ... most African countries are currently at 5,000 parts per million with some countries ... having even higher sulfur content," it warned.


Source: Associated Press


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