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Could Derna tragedy trigger a national reconciliation in Libya? However, though divided, the governing forces of Libya have agreed to put their differences aside for now in order to deal with the calamity that has hit their country. But as in every failed state suffering from civil strife, infrastructure investment lurked at the bottom of the list of priorities. Many have said that what the world witnessed in Libya last week was an example of how a small natural disaster can dramatically impact a failed state. Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

It caused catastrophic flooding in the port city of Derna, in eastern Libya, after two nearby dams broke. First, there are the climate activists outside Libya who claim that the floods offer yet more proof of the damage humanity is supposedly doing to the planet. The dams that broke outside Derna had been left to decay for decades. The Gaddafi regime allowed oil-rich Libya to slowly decay while its members syphoned off the nation’s wealth for themselves. When it emerged that the programme of murder dated back to the Kaniyat’s prior allegiance with the Tripoli regime itself, interest tapered off.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry deposited the instrument of accession on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. The TPNW prohibits state parties from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, acquiring, possessing or stockpiling nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. “Sri Lanka’s ratification of the TPNW reaffirms its long-standing commitment toward nuclear disarmament in favor of international peace and security. In this context, Sri Lanka also ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on July 25, 2023,” the ministry said. Also Read Sri Lanka announces welfare scheme for poor families

Ultimately, the Facilities Security Authority — another Libyan security arm in the tangle of official and semi-official appendages of the fractured state — stepped in. The authority approached embassies and international companies that were using foreign security contractors with an update — and a proposal. “They were told, ‘Well, actually we are now the only party authorized to provide security.’ And they settled on a list of 18 authorized foreign security companies, GardaWorld among them. But in exchange, the FSA imposed a six per cent fee on the contracts of these foreign security companies,” Lacher said. As of several months ago, GardaWorld’s clients in Libya included German electronics giant Siemens, Italian oil group ENI and the British embassy in Tripoli, according to media reports in Europe and North Africa.

All Libyans are brothers!” at the central Sahaba Square in Derna, singling out Aguila Saleh, the speaker of Libya’s eastern-based parliament. Last week, Saleh had said the flood was an “act of God” and that politicians were not to blame for it. The resulting flood destroyed a quarter of the coastal city and killed nearly 4,000 people, according to the latest UN figures. ‘Little sign that there will be any accountability’The prosecutor of Libya’s eastern administration has launched an investigation and suspended Derna’s mayor, Abdel Moneim al-Gaithi. In 2022, the global nongovernmental organization Transparency International ranked Libya 171 of 180 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index.

A study published on Tuesday determined that the climate crisis exacerbated storm Daniel which this month caused serious flooding in a series of countries in the Mediterranean Basin, covered over 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) in Greece in water and destroyed dams in Libya, creating floods that killed thousands of people.

Roadmap Adoption: A focal point of the discussion was the roadmap crafted during the Ndjamena meeting. All nations affirmed their commitment to its provisions, highlighting the importance of collective efforts to ensure Sudan's stability and sovereignty. Progress Review: The ministers reviewed the steps each country has taken since the first meeting, discussing dialogues with Sudanese factions and collaborations with other international mechanisms focused on the Sudan crisis. Future Coordination: Emphasizing continued collaboration, the ministers slated the third meeting to take place in Cairo. The exact date will soon be confirmed through diplomatic avenues, with the primary focus on assessing roadmap implementation progress.

GENEVA : A U.N. humanitarian office report said on Tuesday that some 400 migrants were killed in the floods that hit eastern Libya last week, citing hospital reports. The report quoted the U.N. health agency, the World Health Organization, as saying that 4,000 deaths had so far been reported in Libya by hospitals, including 400 migrants. Thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants are temporarily based in Libya and many make the perilous Mediterranean crossing each year to flee poverty and conflict. The International Organization for Migration had previously said that over 100,000 migrants lived in flood-hit areas, including more than 8,000 in the city of Derna. (Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by William Maclean)

Days after a torrential downpour collapsed two aging dams and unleashed a rushing wall of water that swept parts of the Libyan city of Derna and thousands of its people into the sea, the military strongman who rules the area came for a quick visit. Khalifa Hifter, the 79-year-old renegade commander and longtime C.I.A. asset shook hands with soldiers, took a brief drive through Derna’s muddy streets and flew off in a helicopter. The disaster that struck Derna on Sept. 11 has drawn renewed international attention to Mr. Hifter and his so-called Libyan National Army, a military coalition that controls the eastern half of the divided North African nation with an iron fist. More than a week after the disaster, as rescue efforts shift to the long and costly work of caring for the displaced and helping the city recover, Mr. Hifter’s tight hold over eastern Libya has made it clear that he will be the overall arbiter of the aid operation in the oil-rich country.

The analysis was conducted by the World Weather Attribution group, which aims to quickly evaluate the possible role of climate change in extreme weather events. What's more, the dams might not have been designed to withstand such an extreme rainfall in the first place, they say. To assess the role of climate change, researchers then combined observations of rainfall and climate models to determine if there had been changes in the likelihood and intensity of those maximum rainfalls. University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann, who was not involved in the analysis, said such weather attribution studies are somewhat useful but don't capture all the ways that climate change affects weather events. "For this reason, my belief is that these attribution studies actually underestimate the impact human-caused climate change is having on these events, Mann said in an email.

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The mayor's home in the Libyan city of Derna has been burnt down, as hundreds of protesters demanded answers for last week's catastrophic flood. They gathered on Monday night at the city's landmark Sahaba Mosque, many chanting for top officials in Libya's eastern government to be sacked. On Tuesday, the day after the protests, a minister in eastern Libya's government announced that all journalists had been asked to leave Derna, and accused them of hampering the work of rescue teams. Monday's rallies at the Sahaba Mosque - itself partially damaged by flooding - were the biggest seen since the floods hit, and there are suggestions the protest has some institutional backing. Claudia Gazzini of International Crisis Group in Libya told BBC Newsday.

But the scientists noted that climate change alone didn’t create a catastrophe that killed thousands of people. Similar studies have found such fingerprints on floods in Nigeria and Pakistan, while another concluded that climate change did not influence a food crisis in Madagascar. “The more extreme the precipitation, the bigger of a relative effect we see from climate change,” Lehner said. AdvertisementIn Libya, climate change has meant a decline in average annual rainfall, stressing a need to store as much water as possible. But the researchers said that meant a lack of consideration about what could happen if an extreme storm such as Storm Daniel came along.

The agency has also delivered emergency medical kits to primary care services to support 15,000 people for three months. WHO has shipped 28 tons of medical supplies and donated ambulances and medical kits. SyriaToday, a humanitarian convoy arrived in Idleb, north-west Syria, from southern Türkiye through the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing. OCHA also made a routine monitoring visit to hospitals supported by the Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund. So far this year, more than 4,000 trucks with UN aid have crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria using the Bab Al-Hawa, Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ae border crossings.