Libya jails 12 over dam management during deadly Derna floods

Twelve people were convicted on Sunday in Libya’s eastern city of Derna over their role in “managing dam facilities” during last year’s deadly floods, the general prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The defendants, who included government employees and local officials, received prison sentences ranging from nine to 27 years, according to the statement published on Facebook.

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They were jailed over their management of “the country’s dam facilities” at a time when the collapse of two dams near the port city of Derna contributed to catastrophic flooding.

On September 10, last year, Storm Daniel hit the east coast of Libya, triggering flooding and dam collapses that razed entire neighbourhoods.

The vast surge of water killed more than 4,300 people and left over 8,000 people missing, according to the United Nations.

Nearly 44,800 people were displaced by the disaster, including 16,000 children, and their access to care and education has severely deteriorated since, said the UN.

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Around 250,000 people still required humanitarian aid in December.

A report by the European Union, the UN and the World Bank found last January that the “disaster impacted approximately 1.5 million people — 22 percent of Libya’s population — living in the coastal and inland cities that were hardest hit.”

The report estimated that $1.8 billion would be required for reconstruction.

UN humanitarian agency OCHA has confirmed 4,352 deaths and more than 8,000 missing persons, “making Storm Daniel the deadliest storm in Africa since 1900”, said the report.

In addition to the reconstruction needs, the report estimated the material damage and economic losses, including of businesses and farms, at $1.65 billion, or 3.6 percent of Libya’s GDP in 2022.

Libya has been battered by armed conflict and political chaos since a NATO-backed uprising led to the toppling of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

The North African country is now divided between an internationally recognised Tripoli-based government led by interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah in the west and an administration in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.