Thousands of citizens of Derna gathered in Martyrs’ Square and called for the dismissal of the president of Parliament, Aquila Salah, whom they accuse of hindering the country’s unification process.
The house of the mayor of the Libyan city of Derna was set on fire by dozens of citizens, during protests against the local authorities’ management of the floods in the northeast of the country, which caused thousands of deaths.
Abdulmenam Al Gaizi, until now mayor, was suspended a few days ago by the Government of Benghazi (east) pending the conclusion of a judicial investigation into the disaster that occurred in this town, the Efe agency reported.
According to Libyan authorities, an estimated 11,300 people were killed and another 10,000 were missing, and Al Gaizi said the death toll could reach 20,000.
Thousands of citizens of Derna gathered in the central Martyrs’ Square and called for the dismissal of the president of Parliament, Aquila Salah. who is accused of hindering the process of unification of the country after twelve years of conflict.
The political divide has further complicated rescue and reconstruction efforts in this country of seven million people.embroiled in more than a decade of conflict since the NATO-backed Arab Spring uprising toppled autocratic ruler Moammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Two opposing authorities share executive power: the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Government of Benghazi, elected by Parliament and under the control of Haftar, led by Osama Hammad.
According to critics, the House of Representatives, based in Tobruk, only met three days after floods devastated the northeast of the country last Sunday.especially Derna, where two dams collapsed, releasing 33 million liters of water overnight and washing entire residential areas, bridges and roads into the sea.
The tension in this coastal city, which had 120 thousand inhabitantsIt came hours after the United Nations drastically revised the number of victims of the cyclone downward, from 11,300 to 4,000.
The interim leader of the Derna municipal council, Ahmed Amdrud, announced this Monday Three measures to face the situation.: the reconstruction of the city by specialized foreign companies, the hiring of consultants to determine the viability of the dams and the offer of a housing subsidy to the victims.
The preliminary results of the investigation opened this Thursday by the Public Ministry into the collapse of the dams point to human failures after the first cracks appeared in 1999 and the lack of maintenance for decades, and according to the UN, if the disaster had been If it had been avoided, the number of victims would be drastically lower.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya warned this Monday of a disease outbreak in the country, which could create “a second devastating crisis“, and there are already reports about the spread of diarrhea.
Source: Observadora
