A year ago, on the night of September 10-11, violent floods followed by the rupture of two dams devastated the city of Derna located in eastern Libya. Thus, thousands of the city’s inhabitants disappeared forever. There were more than 40,000 displaced according to the UN. Thousands of homes were destroyed or damaged. The extent of the destruction and the human toll is still undetermined. The Derna disaster revealed the dilapidated infrastructure and the extent of corruption in a country rich in oil. A look back at this disaster.
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A year after the disaster, the judicial investigation is stalling. The budget allocated to the maintenance of two dams overlooking the city was embezzled, but the Libyan attorney general, in establishing the chain of responsibility, never went higher than the mayor of Derna. Twelve civil servants working at the city hall, the water and dam management structure or the central bank have been tried and have been receiving prison sentences ranging from 9 to 27 years since last January.
As for the number of victims, it is still controversial. No official toll has been established. The authorities in eastern Libya have tried to minimize the figures. Nearly 5,000 bodies have been identified and buried, 10,000 people are still missing. Their relatives have given their DNA for research. An unknown number of migrants or political refugees are also among the victims. According to estimates by Libyan experts, the toll could actually be between 14,000 and 24,000 dead.
In March 2024, Amnesty denounced the mismanagement of the disaster by the two rival authoritiesIn the aftermath of the crisis, Amnesty notes, the authorities used ” well-honed brutal tactics to stifle dissent and restrict the activities of civil society and the independent press “.
The reconstruction of Derna as a means of domination
Shortly after the disaster in September 2023, the government of eastern Libya and the Libyan National Army called for an International Forum in Benghazi for the reconstruction of Derna. The forum was finally postponed to November. About ten countries had participated at the time.
Last January, the head of the Libyan parliament announced the creation of the Libyan Development and Reconstruction Fund. Libyawhich replaced the ministerial committee for the reconstruction of Derna, set up immediately after the disaster. The head of parliament, Aguila Saleh, allocated the equivalent in dinars of 2 billion euros to this reconstruction fund last February.
This fund was entrusted to one of the Marshal’s six sons. Khalifa HaftarBelqasim, not involved in military activities like two of his brothers. This doctor in economics has always wanted to show a peaceful side of the Haftar clan, focusing on economic activities and projects concerning youth and sports.
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Increasing the influence and wealth of the Haftar clan
” It’s a blank check ” protest Libyan experts, who believe that without control, there will be no transparency on the real cost of reconstruction, nor on the quality of this reconstruction. For these experts, the project is ” opaque and could conceal a possible abuse of public funds. »
Still scarred, Derna, which had 120,000 inhabitants before the disaster, has become a gigantic construction site, where projects are advancing at high speed under the leadership of the Haftar family and thanks to companies and thousands of very cheap Egyptian workers. Work is going on day and night. Everything will be rebuilt before next December, say people involved in the projects.
Belqasim Haftar boasts of the speed of reconstruction and claims to have achieved a 70% completion rate of ongoing projects in Derna. 3,500 homes have been rebuilt as well as several schools and multiple infrastructures. The rapid reconstruction in Derna has turned into a golden windfall for the Haftar clan, which is increasingly powerful financially and militarily and does not give up on wanting to become the master of Libya.
For many observers, the Derna reconstruction fund is not only a financial windfall for the east, but also and above all a political influence: ” Every brick laid in Derna is a stepping stone for Haftar’s succession plan “, comments Anas al-Gomati, director of Sadeq Institute.
Also readFloods in Libya: In the ravaged city of Derna, an end-of-the-world setting