On September 10, climate change met
Libya’s failing state. The result was thousands of dead and missing in the eastern city
of Derna.
اضافة اعلان
The disaster mirrored the country’s endemic
problems but also heralded the risks ahead.
With “hurricane-like characteristics,”
Storm Daniel, which washed ashore on Libya’s coast, was the latest in a trend
of increasingly severe
Mediterranean storms.
But there was more than a change of weather
patterns behind the disaster. There was chronic neglect and mismanagement.
Libya as a whole was ill-equipped to
properly manage any major natural catastrophe. Most safeguards which could have
prevented or alleviated the flooding were lacking.
Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the
World Meteorological Organization said, “the meteorological service in Libya
hasn’t been functioning, thanks to the chaotic situation of the
administration.”
Military and civilian authorities in
Libya’s east issued instructions to inhabitants to evacuate Derna ahead of
Storm Daniel. Confusingly, they also asked the population to stay put.
No warnings were issued from the
authorities for a possible collapse of the two clay dams built in the 1970’s by
a Yugoslav company. The water resources ministry even assured residents, “the
dams are in good condition and things are under control.” It should have known
better.
the meteorological service in Libya hasn’t been functioning, thanks to the chaotic situation of the administration.
A 2022 Sebha university research paper had
called for “immediate measures” to ensure
maintenance of the dams. The state
audit office in Tripoli acknowledged the dams had not been maintained despite
the allocation of funds for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.
There were signs of divisions and jockeying
for power amid the disaster despite self-serving displays of unity, in a
country deeply split between two main political camps since the 2011 overthrow
of
Muammar Gaddafi.
The head of the Presidential Council
Mohammed Menfi infuriated Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, which holds
sway over eastern Libya, when he declared that Libya “needs unified
institutions to oversee the crisis.”
Reuters quoted a “humanitarian source” as
saying that authorities in the east have blocked aid coming through the Tripoli
government. Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeiba sparked widespread
concern when he told a press conference: “There were multiple offers of help
and we will only accept aid that is necessary.”
But overall, the two rival camps put their
disputes on hold as they watched volunteers from all parts of the country join
forces to help the victims.
East and west rulers seem to have banded
together out of wariness of bottom-up pressures to hold politicians
accountable.
Under duress, both sides called for a probe
as they sought to deflect blame and delay any real reckoning.
But according to sources in Libya, nothing
short of an international investigation could get to the bottom of the
catastrophe, especially given that recent measures by Dbeibah have curtailed
the work of civil society organizations.
But many Libyans have already drawn their
conclusions. The growing anger at the authorities has ignited protests this
week in
Derna and a furious reaction on social media. Libyan writer Salem
Hendawi wrote on Facebook: “The party responsible for the wholesale deaths of
families is not the hurricane but governments which must be held accountable
for the murder of thousands of people.”
Libyans know that their country’s
politicians could not have cared less about climate change or building a modern
infrastructure network in the country.
Roots of institutional failure go back to
the Gaddafi era when state institutions were dismantled and competence replaced
by political subservience.
Since 2011, members of the splintered
political class focused on bolstering their support bases by funding armed
militias and seeking foreign backers to maintain their hold on power.
Eastern and western parts of the country
were consumed by intermittent conflict, until a precarious
ceasefire in 2020.
The security situation was made worse by the encroachment of extremist groups
including ISIS, which occupied Derna until the group’s demise in 2019.
The specter of partition, rather than the
prospect of integrated development or functional institutions, hovered over the
country. Revenues from Libya’s vast oil resources were more a bounty to be
doled out to political factions and armed militias than state resources
allocated to ensure sustainable growth and a modernized infrastructure.
While elections were repeatedly blocked,
the country’s wealth fueled corruption. Even in the middle of the current
disaster there are fears relief funds could be “siphoned of.”
Foreign powers, which never stopped their
turf wars, continued to be part of Libya’s problems. After its 2011 military
intervention in Libya, the West has viewed the country through the prism of
either security or oil.
The party responsible for the wholesale deaths of families is not the hurricane but governments which must be held accountable for the murder of thousands of people.
The quest for influence also motivated
regional powers. Storm Daniel has sparked competition between Egypt, the
traditional backer of Haftar, on the one hand, and Turkey, Tripoli’s supporter,
on the other.
Yehia Kedouani, member of the
Egyptian parliament’s defense and national security commission told Al Arab newspaper:
“Turkey still has designs in Libya” and Cairo’s “massive humanitarian aid” aims
to “close any loophole that could be exploited by Ankara.”
If there is a silver-lining in this tragic
story it is that it has brought Libyans from all regions of the country
together.
It has also reinforced the conviction of
many that their country is unlikely to rise above its woes with the same
political system in place.
At the same time, there is a sense of
foreboding that the two rival camps, both feeling threatened by the growing anger
toward them, could continue to pause their differences while cementing their
hold on power.
That could herald a new catastrophe in
Libya far beyond what
Storm Daniel has wrought.
Oussama Romdhani is the editor of The
Arab Weekly. He previously served in the Tunisian government and as a diplomat
in Washington.
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