Libyan flood disaster linked to political turmoil – Expert

The disaster that followed a massive storm in Libya, which caused deadly flooding and killed thousands of people, can be linked to the political situation in the country, an expert has said.

““It is not simply a natural disaster, but an event that is very closely linked to the political situation in Libya,” Wolfram Lacher, an expert on Libya at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), said on Wednesday.

Derna was the city most severely affected by the floods triggered by powerful Storm Daniel, which swept through eastern Libya beginning on Sunday.

Two dams collapsed in the city during the storm.

Officials have said some 5,200 people have died and about 10,000 are still missing; however, the latest figures could not be independently verified.

The cost of the massive destruction could have been invested in infrastructure.

Two rival governments are vying for power in Libya, which has been plagued by unrest in recent years.

One is based in the east, and the other is based in the capital, Tripoli, in the west.

So far, diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve the ongoing civil war have failed.

Libya has been in turmoil since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Countless militias are still fighting for power and influence in the oil-rich country.

The conflict is further fueled by foreign states.

Lacher said Gaddafi punished Derna in the 1990s when insurgents took up arms.

But in the years after Gaddafi’s fall “nothing at all was invested in infrastructure”.

“Some money has flowed to the region in recent years, but it went into the pockets of militia leaders and war profiteers,” he said.