Libya’s attorney general has ordered the pretrial detention of eight Libyan officials as part of an investigation into the failure of two dams that led to the deadly floods in Derna on September 10, his office said on Monday.
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The eight people who hold or held responsible positions in the Department of Water Resources or Dam Management in Libya are suspected of, among other things, “mismanagement” and “negligence,” the public prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
The detention also affects the mayor of Derna Abdulmonem al-Ghaithi, who was fired along with the rest of the municipal council after the tragedy.
Storm Daniel hit eastern Libya, particularly Derna, a city of 100,000 people on the Mediterranean, on the night of September 10-11, causing two dams upstream to break and triggering a tsunami-sized flood that hit everything got in her way, dragged her with her.
According to the latest preliminary official report, at least 3,868 people have died in the floods and thousands more people are still missing.
On September 18, hundreds of residents of Derna demonstrated to demand accountability from authorities in the east of the country who they say are responsible for the disaster.
Libyan Attorney General al-Seddik al-Sour announced on September 15 that he had opened an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy. According to him, the dam administration in Libya had already reported cracks on the two structures in 1998, but no measures were taken to repair these damages.
The investigation focused in particular on a contract concluded between the Libyan Water Ministry and a Turkish company for the maintenance of the two dams and the payment of “disproportionate amounts” to the latter in 2014, “despite breaching the obligations set out therein.” the contract,” says the prosecutor’s press release.
In a November 2022 study, Libyan engineer and academic Abdel-Wanis Ashour warned of a “catastrophe” threatening Derna if authorities fail to maintain the two dams.
But that warning had no effect, even though Libya, which has Africa’s largest oil reserves, has no shortage of resources.