According to the office of Libya’s attorney general, which was announced on Monday, the mayor of the city of Derna, which is located in eastern Libya, was held along with other authorities on suspicion of mismanagement and incompetence about the collapse of dams that caused flooding in the city almost two weeks ago.
The office of the attorney general, which is located in the country’s capital city of Tripoli, announced that it had issued orders to jail eight municipal authorities in connection with the breaching of dams during a storm, which resulted in the release of the torrent that swept neighborhoods into the sea and caused the deaths of thousands of people.
It was stated that those held included the mayor and an official overseeing water resources, although neither was named.
Residents have been quick to point the finger of blame at the administration for the failure of the dams, which had been constructed to restrict the flow of water into the seasonal riverbed that runs through the city.
After the civil conflict that began with the NATO-backed revolt that culminated in Muammar Gaddafi’s ouster in 2011, a contract signed in 2007 to rebuild the dams was never finished. Fighters belonging to various organizations, including the Islamic State, maintained the authority of Derna until 2019.
Last week, protesters set fire to the residence of the city’s mayor, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi. In response, the government in the eastern part of the nation announced that he had been suspended and that the whole local council had been fired.
There have been verified deaths of hundreds of people due to the floods, and many more are still missing, in addition to entire buildings being washed out to sea. The efforts of international rescue teams to remove remains from under the wreckage and in the city’s harbor continue despite the likelihood of finding survivors diminishing.
The flood and the subsequent struggle to rescue people have also brought to light tensions between the central government and an alternative administration dominating the nation’s east and not recognizing the authorities in Tripoli.
