Protesters gathered in Derna, Libya, setting fire to the mayor’s home and calling for the removal of officials following devastating floods. Image: Marco Allasio, via Pexels
Hundreds of protesters gathered in the city of Derna, Libya, following last week’s devastating floods, setting fire to the mayor’s home and calling for the removal of government officials.
Meeting at the city’s landmark Sahaba Mosque, citizens of Derna, or Dernawis, expressed their anger at the government which ignored warnings and failed to evacuate its citizens, factors which contributed to the scale of the disaster.
At this stage, the World Health Organization has confirmed the deaths of at least 3,922 people, but with thousands more still missing, that number is expected to rise.
The gathering of angered and grieving citizens culminated in the protesters setting fire to the home of Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, who was Derna’s mayor at the time of the flood.
Protesters called for these officials to be removed, expressing their desire for unity after more than a decade of conflict between Libya’s two rival governments.
Since the flooding, Derna’s entire city council has been dismissed, but Eastern Libya’s top officials remain in power, including warlord Gen Khalifa Haftar.
Libyans affected by the disaster have criticised Haftar and the government for their lack of accountability, referring to the event as a “natural disaster.”
While the heavy rainfall of Storm Daniel played a large part, officials were warned about the fragile nature of Derna’s dams prior to the flooding, which had gone unaddressed.
These warnings included an academic paper published in 2022 which outlined the urgency of maintaining the dams and the threat flooding posed to the city.
Locals also say they were issued a stay-at-home warning, not an evacuation warning, as the weather system drew near, though officials deny this.
Journalists have now been ordered to leave Derna amid claims that their presence has hindered the ongoing search and rescue efforts.
Internet and telephone access have also been cut off.
“Have no doubt, this is not about health or safety, but about punishing Dernawis for protesting,” said Emadeddin Badi of the Atlantic Council.
Najwa Mekki, a member of the UN’s humanitarian body OCHA, told Reuters news agency that one of their teams had been denied entry to Derna.
“We can confirm that search and rescue teams, emergency medical teams and UN colleagues who are already in Derna continue to operate,” said Mekki.
“However, a UN team was due to travel from Benghazi to Derna today but were not authorized to proceed.”
At the UN Assembly held in New York earlier today, UN chief Antonio Guterres said that the floods in Libya were “a snapshot of the state of our world”.
“Victims of years of conflict, victims of climate chaos, victims of leaders – near and far – who failed to find a way to peace,” he said of those who died to the flood.
“The people of Derna lived and died in the epicentre of that indifference – as the skies unleashed 100 times the monthly rainfall in 24 hours … as dams broke after years of war and neglect.”
