It took a while last week for the rest of the world to realize that an even greater disaster had occurred in the eastern Libyan port city of Derna than the earthquake in Morocco two days earlier. A hurricane and exceptionally heavy rainfall led to the collapse of two dams near Derna. A gigantic tidal wave then swept away a quarter of the city.
Only hesitantly did help arrive. Access to Derna was partly blocked, but an equally important factor was the crippling rivalry between the two governments that Libya has known for years. The country is in the hands of rival militias, who are mainly concerned with their own interests. Militias in the west support the National Unity Government in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, which is recognized by the UN and most countries. General Khalifa Haftar rules in the east. Both governments are at war with each other.
Even under the long rule of the erratic and callous Colonel Moammar Gaddafi (1967-2011), oil-rich Libya was certainly not a model of good governance. But after his fall in 2011, on the waves of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ and thanks to Western support, the situation has deteriorated so much that some Libyans look back with nostalgia on the Gaddafi era.
The government in Tripoli receives military and financial support from, among others, Turkey and Qatar, Haftar of Russia (Wagner Brigade), Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The West has mainly viewed the developments since 2011 with a shake of its head and limited itself to exhortations to bury the hatchet and organize elections. The only point where the EU was serious about doing business with the Libyan authorities was in stopping asylum seekers.
Political divisions play an important role in providing assistance to Derna. The two governments hardly cooperate. Transports of medicine and food from Tripoli to Derna sometimes encountered resistance from Haftar and his men, who preferred to take relief into their own hands.
The disaster illustrates how desperate the situation has become in the absence of even basic governance. It may even have been a consequence of that. After all, it had been known for years that the breached dams required urgent maintenance. Money had even already been set aside for this, but corrupt officials, who did not think they were accountable to anyone, spent it on other, probably more profitable things for themselves. A problem from which the west of Libya also suffers.
The thousands of dead citizens can no longer protest against such mismanagement. Hundreds of survivors did so in Derna on Monday. They expressed their anger against those in power, who blamed the disaster on nature, not on their failure. Such a demonstration requires courage, because Haftar is known as someone who tackles critics harshly.
Many Libyans also feel abandoned by foreign countries. The help from Russia, Turkey and others has only made Libya worse. And the passive attitude of Europe and the US, which do not aspire to new military adventures, has not made any progress. Of course, Europe can put more pressure on its rivals in Libya itself and on the countries that are perpetuating the current chaos there, for example through economic sanctions. But sad as it is, even that would do little to help the troubled Libyans for the time being.
A version of this article also appeared in the September 20, 2023 newspaper.