The chaos in Libya has pushed maintenance of vital infrastructure such as the Derna (East) dams into the background, the collapse of which caused particularly deadly floods in this country where two entities are vying for power, analysts and politicians estimate.
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Libya has been plagued by divisions since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and is ruled by two rival governments: one in Tripoli (west), recognized by the United Nations and led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah, the other in the east, loyal to the camp of The powerful Marshal Khalifa Haftar is affiliated.
Political disputes have repeatedly escalated into deadly fighting, but a ceasefire has been largely observed since 2020.
On Sunday, Storm Daniel hit several areas in the east, particularly Derna, a coastal city of 100,000 people, where two dams built in the 1970s failed under pressure from torrential rains, leading to flooding that killed thousands and swept entire neighborhoods into the city Mediterranean Sea.
Although the tragedy occurred in an area under the control of the eastern camp, Mr Dbeibah, who sits in the west, estimated on Thursday that the lack of adequate development plans and “the attrition caused by time” had contributed.
“This is one of the consequences of strife, war and wasted money,” he said at a meeting with ministers and experts that was broadcast live on television.
“Tragic mistakes”
After “years of neglect, the fact that the dam was not released as the storm approached” had the effect of a “time bomb,” Sadeq Institute analyst Anas el-Gomati told AFP.
For Mr. Gomati, “the eastern authorities, especially the ANL (Marshal Haftar’s forces, editor’s note), made tragic and criminal errors of judgment and failed in their responsibilities.”
According to him, the decision of the municipality of Derna to impose a curfew on Saturday evening in anticipation of the storm “did not protect citizens, on the contrary, it trapped them”.
The head of the United Nations-dependent World Meteorological Organization, Petteri Taalas, estimated that “most of the casualties could have been avoided,” citing the disorganization linked to the political instability that Libya has suffered for years.
Libyan engineer and academic Abdel-Wanis Ashour had nevertheless warned in a study published in November 2022 of the “catastrophe” that would befall Derna if authorities did not carry out the maintenance of its two dams, the Abou Mansour, with sufficient capacity 22.5 million m3 and Al-Balad, which can store up to 1.5 million m3 of water.
Despite this warning, no work has been carried out on the two dams, although their maintenance is budgeted for and Libya, which has the largest oil reserves in Africa, is not lacking in resources.
“fault line”
These works, like others across the country, have been neglected by successive governments since 2011, as was the case under the Gaddafi regime, which abandoned Derna, which he viewed as a rebellious city.
“The extent of the damage detected is a direct result of the negligence of the eastern authorities,” Mr Gomati said.
After the floods, the Presidential Council meeting in Tripoli called on the Attorney General to open an investigation into “this disaster” and prosecute anyone who suspects “errors or negligence” that led to the failure of the two dams.
Given the scale of the devastation, the age-old regional rivalries between Cyrenaica (eastern region) and Tripolitania (western region) and their political disputes gave way to solidarity.
In the west and south, collections are being organized through social networks, while several nurses, doctors and volunteers have expressed the desire to travel to Derna by heading to Tripoli’s Mitiga airport.
But the lack of coordination between rival governments and the absence of central authority make it difficult to organize relief efforts.
“The East-West divide will remain in one form or another. Of course, this dividing line is not a good thing from both a logistical point of view and from the point of view of aid efficiency, says expert Jalel Harchaoui, a specialist on Libya.