2023-09-26 03:01:00
The attorney general of Libya ordered the provisional arrest of eight officials from that country in the framework of an investigation into the bursting of two dams that caused the deadly Derna floods on September 10, the judicial official announced this Monday.
The eight people, who hold or held positions of responsibility in the Department of Hydraulic Resources or the Department of Dam Administration in Libya, are suspected, among other charges, of “mismanagement” and “negligence,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. release.
The mayor of Derna, Abdulmonem Al Ghaithi, removed from his duties along with the rest of the municipal council following the tragedy, is also among those detained.
Floods caused by Storm Daniel caused more than 3,800 deaths in Libya. The figure only includes bodies buried and registered by the Ministry of Health. The bodies that the inhabitants themselves buried shortly following the catastrophe have not yet been counted.
Authorities and international humanitarian organizations estimate that there are more than 10,000 missing.
Devastated by divisions since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya is governed by two rival administrations: one in Tripoli (west) recognized by the UN and led by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, the other in the east, embodied by the parliament and affiliated with the side of the powerful Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Libyan Attorney General Al Seddik Al Sour announced on September 15 the opening of an investigation into the circumstances of the floods.
According to him, the dam management in Libya had pointed out cracks since 1998 in the two constructions in question, but no action was taken to repair them.
The investigation targeted in particular once morest a contract concluded between the Libyan Department of Water and a Turkish company for the maintenance of the two dams and the transfer in 2014 to the latter of “disproportionate sums” despite “the fact that it had violated the stipulated commitments” in the agreement, according to the prosecutor’s statement.
In a November 2022 study, Libyan engineer and university student Abdel-Wanis Ashour warned of a “catastrophe” threatening Derna if authorities did not address the maintenance of the two dams.
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