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Libyan Court Jails 12 Officials over Deadly Floods

Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Libyan Court Jails 12 Officials over Deadly Floods

Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Abdul Salam Ibrahim Al-Qadi, 43 years old, walks on the rubble in front of his house, searching for his missing father and brother after the deadly floods in Derna, Libya, September 28, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

A Libyan court has jailed 12 officials in connection with the collapse of a series of dams in Derna last year that killed thousands of the city's residents, the Attorney General said on Sunday.

The officials, who were responsible for managing the country's dams, were sentenced to between 9 and 27 years in prison by the Court of Appeal in Derna. Four officials were acquitted, according to Reuters.

Derna, a coastal city with a population of 125,000, was devastated last September by massive floods caused by Storm Daniel.

Thousands were killed and thousands more were missing as a result of the floods that burst dams, swept away buildings and destroyed entire neighbourhoods.

The Attorney General in Tripoli said three of the defendants were ordered to "return money obtained from illicit gains", according to a statement, which did not give the names or positions of those on trial.

"The convicted officials have been charged with negligence, premeditated murder and waste of public money," a judicial source in Derna told Reuters by phone, adding that they had the right to appeal against the verdicts.

A report in January by the World Bank, United Nations and European Union said deadly flash flooding in Derna constituted a climate and environmental catastrophe that required $1.8 billion to fund reconstruction and recovery.

The report said the dams' collapse was partly due to their design, based on outdated hydrological information, and partly a result of poor maintenance and governance problems during more than a decade of conflict in Libya.

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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Egypt said Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam, because it would reduce the country's share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.

The more than the $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. It’s expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.

Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years trying to reach an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011.

Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations over 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in case of a drought.

Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.

“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement Friday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”

“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

However, the Egyptian water ministry said Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”

“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.

However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.