Storm Daniel Exposes Fragile Libya Infrastructure, Sparks Damning Criticism of Authorities

Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. (Reuters)
Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. (Reuters)
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Storm Daniel Exposes Fragile Libya Infrastructure, Sparks Damning Criticism of Authorities

Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. (Reuters)
Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. (Reuters)

The devastation left behind by storm Daniel in Libya has underscored the fragility and decay of the infrastructure in the country caused by years of instability since the ouster of longtime ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi in 2011.

Libyans lashed out at the ruling authorities for neglecting the infrastructure, accusing officials of corruption and squandering the country’s oil wealth during their struggle for power.

Mediterranean storm Daniel caused deadly flooding Sunday in many towns of eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna.

Two dams in the mountains above the city collapsed, sending floodwaters roaring down the Wadi Derna river and through the city center, sweeping away entire city blocks and killing at least 5,100 people. Search teams combed streets, wrecked buildings and even the sea Wednesday to look for bodies.

Political analyst Ahmed Almhadoui said the interim Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) headed by Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah was “primarily responsible for the devastation.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he explained that the GNU had at its disposal oil revenues that previous governments had never managed to amass.

It should have used these funds to rebuild several Libyan cities that were left in ruins by the conflict, he added.

Moreover, he noted that the several audit reports had accused the GNU of financial mismanagement, adding that prior to heading the GNU, Dbeibah was previously in charge of an agency that was tasked with modernizing infrastructure.

Since the storm disaster, the GNU has dispatched technical teams to assess the damage in Derna. They found that 30 kms of road networks and five bridges were destroyed in the storm.

Meanwhile, head of the Belaady Organization for Human Rights Tarik Lamloum criticized the government of Osama Hammad that was named by the east-based parliament. He also blamed previous east-based governments for the tragedy.

He said they were largely responsible for the devastating consequences of the storm.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Hammad government should have taken precautions such as determining the locations that were most at risk from the storm and evacuating them.

When the government met before the storm hit, it should have turned to experts who could have warned it of the risks at hand.

Neighborhoods located in valleys and near the burst dams should have been evacuated, he added, while noting that the majority of the construction there was unregulated.

Furthermore, Lamloum said the fragile infrastructure has been an issue in Libya for years, even when Gaddafi was still in power.

Everyone is responsible for the disaster, he declared, while noting that east-based governments never lacked the necessary funds to improve the infrastructure, rather they mismanaged the situation.

The eastern and western administrations were solely concerned with amassing their military forces, not construction and catering to the needs of the country, he lamented.

Given the instability and mistrust from both sides, the administrations dedicated their efforts to acquiring weapons and recruiting fighters in anticipation of the next round of unrest, he went on to say.

Political analyst Mohammed Mahfoud rejected the exploitation of the human tragedy to make political gains and trade accusations.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We must acknowledge the reality caused by the political division endured by Libya for years.”

The division has weakened the executive authorities, he added, while noting that crises in the country are addressed through reactions and after victims are claimed, instead of tackling their root cause.

He remarked that in spite of Libya’s wealth, a revision of infrastructure has never been carried out and a center for predicting natural disasters has never been set up.



Palestinians in Syria Flock to Cemetery Off-Limits under Assad

People pray by the grave of a relative in a damaged cemetery at the Yarmuk camp for Palestinian refugees in the south of Damascus on December 14, 2024. (AFP)
People pray by the grave of a relative in a damaged cemetery at the Yarmuk camp for Palestinian refugees in the south of Damascus on December 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Palestinians in Syria Flock to Cemetery Off-Limits under Assad

People pray by the grave of a relative in a damaged cemetery at the Yarmuk camp for Palestinian refugees in the south of Damascus on December 14, 2024. (AFP)
People pray by the grave of a relative in a damaged cemetery at the Yarmuk camp for Palestinian refugees in the south of Damascus on December 14, 2024. (AFP)

In a war-ravaged Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, Radwan Adwan was stacking stones to rebuild his father's grave, finally able to return to Yarmuk cemetery after Bashar al-Assad's fall.

"Without the fall of the regime, it would have been impossible to see my father's grave again," said 45-year-old Adwan.

"When we arrived, there was no trace of the grave."

It was his first visit there since 2018, when access to the cemetery south of Damascus was officially banned.

Assad's fall on December 8, after a lightning offensive led by opposition factions, put an end to decades of iron-fisted rule and years of bloody civil war that began with repression of peaceful anti-government protests in 2011.

Yarmuk camp fell to the opposition early in the war before becoming an extremist stronghold. It was bombed and besieged by Assad's forces, emptied of most of its residents and reduced to ruins before its recapture in 2018.

Assad's ouster has allowed former residents to return for the first time in years.

Back at the cemetery, Adwan's mother Zeina sat on a small metal chair in front of her husband's gravesite.

She was "finally" able to weep for him, she said. "Before, my tears were dry."

"It's the first time that I have returned to his grave for years. Everything has changed, but I still recognize where his grave is," said the 70-year-old woman.

Yarmuk camp, established in the 1950s to house Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their land after Israel's creation, had become a key residential and commercial district over the decades.

Some 160,000 Palestinians lived there alongside thousands of Syrians before the country's conflict erupted in 2011.

Thousands fled in 2012, and few have found their homes still standing in the eerie wasteland that used to be Yarmuk.

Along the road to the cemetery, barefoot children dressed in threadbare clothes play with what is left of a swing set in a rubble-strewn area that was once a park.

- 'Spared no one' -

A steady stream of people headed to the cemetery, looking for their loved ones' gravesites after years.

"Somewhere here is my father's grave, my uncle's, and another uncle's," said Mahmud Badwan, 60, gesturing to massive piles of grey rubble that bear little signs of what may lie beneath them.

Most tombstones are broken.

Near them lay breeze blocks from adjacent homes which stand empty and open to the elements.

"The Assad regime spared neither the living nor the dead. Look at how the ruins have covered the cemetery. They spared no one," Badwan said.

There is speculation that the cemetery may also hold the remains of famed Israeli spy Eli Cohen and an Israeli solider.

Cohen was tried and hanged for espionage by the Syrians in 1965 after he infiltrated the top levels of the government.

Camp resident Amina Mounawar leaned against the wall of her ruined home, watching the flow of people arriving at the cemetery.

Some wandered the site, comparing locations to photos on their phones taken before the war in an attempt to locate graves in the transformed site.

"I have a lot of hope for the reconstruction of the camp, for a better future," said Mounawar, 48, as she offered water to those arriving at the cemetery.