(Tripoli) The Attorney General of Libya has ordered the pre-trial detention of eight Libyan officials as part of an investigation into the failure of the two dams which led to the deadly floods of Derna on September 10, his office announced Monday.
The eight people, occupying or having occupied positions of responsibility within the department of hydraulic resources or that of dam management in Libya, are suspected, among other things, of “mismanagement” and “negligence,” said the Prosecutor’s office. in a press release.
The mayor of Derna Abdulmonem al-Ghaithi, dismissed with the rest of the Municipal Council after the tragedy, is also among those affected by the detention.
Storm Daniel struck eastern Libya on the night of September 10 to 11, notably Derna, a town of 100,000 inhabitants bordering the Mediterranean, leading to the rupture of two dams upstream and causing a flood of the magnitude of a tsunami carrying away everything in its path.
According to the latest provisional official report, the floods have left at least 3,868 dead, while thousands of other people are still missing.
On September 18, hundreds of residents of Derna demonstrated to demand accountability from the authorities in the east of the country, who they believe were responsible for the disaster.
The Libyan Attorney General al-Seddik al-Sour announced on September 15 that he had opened an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy. According to him, the dam management in Libya had reported cracks on the two structures as early as 1998, but no work was done to remedy them.
The investigation focused in particular on a contract concluded between the Libyan Water Department and a Turkish company for the maintenance of the two dams and the payment in 2014 to the latter of “disproportionate sums”, and this “although it violated the commitments stipulated in the contract,” according to the Prosecutor’s press release.
In a study in November 2022, Libyan engineer and academic Abdel-Wanis Ashour warned of a “catastrophe” threatening Derna if the authorities do not maintain the two dams.
But this warning has had no effect although Libya, which has the most abundant oil reserves in Africa, does not lack resources.