Libyan officials jailed over floods that killed thousands

Two dams in the city of Derna collapsed last year, causing catastrophic damage

A Libyan court has jailed 12 officials for their roles in a flooding disaster in the coastal city of Derna last year that killed thousands of people, the North African nation’s attorney general announced on Sunday.

Storm Daniel caused flash flooding in Libya last September, bursting two dams and sweeping entire neighborhoods in Derna out to sea. The United Nations has put the official death toll at 4,352. More than nine months after the tragedy, several thousand people are said to remain missing, presumably washed away into the Mediterranean.

In a statement on social media on Sunday, Libya’s attorney general’s office stated that the convicted officials had been in charge of water resource management and maintenance of the dams.

While the statement did not specify the charges, Reuters quoted a judicial source as saying they have been prosecuted for “negligence, premeditated murder, and waste of public money.” 

The defendants, whose names and positions were not undisclosed, received fines and sentences ranging from nine to 27 years in prison. The Tripoli-based public prosecutor’s office said three of them have been ordered to “return money obtained from illicit gains.” According to the statement, four others on trial were acquitted.

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Libyan researcher and hydrologist Abdewanees Ashoor told RT in October that the damage created by a NATO-backed operation that ousted Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 was partly responsible for the dam collapse. He claimed that Africa’s fourth-largest country remains in chaos, with poor leadership and financial corruption, particularly regarding funds allocated for dam repairs following the intervention by the US-led military bloc.

The World Bank, UN, and EU released a joint report in January, concluding that poor maintenance and governance amid Libya’s long-running conflict had contributed to the dam failures in Derna. According to the report, the Mediterranean city will require an estimated $1.8 billion in reconstruction and recovery funds.