TRIPOLI, Sept 8, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A year after flooding in eastern Libya
killed thousands and razed entire neighbourhoods, reconstruction is allowing
military strongman Khalifa Haftar to wield further power in the divided
country, experts say.

On September 10, 2023, extreme rainfall from the hurricane-strength Storm
Daniel caused two dams to burst in the coastal city of Derna, some 1,300
kilometres (800 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.

This led to flooding that killed nearly 4,000 people, left thousands missing
and displaced more than 40,000 others, according to the United Nations.

The tragedy sent shockwaves across the oil-rich North African country,
casting a harsh light on Libya's crumbling infrastructure and the dysfunction
among its divided rulers, and sparking angry demands for accountability.

Libya is still grappling with the aftermath of the armed conflict and
political chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled
long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

The country is now divided between an internationally recognised Tripoli-
based government in the west, led by interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid
Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east backed by Haftar.

Derna, once home to around 120,000 inhabitants, has become a vast
construction site, where homes, schools, roads and bridges are being rebuilt.

But the massive reconstruction effort is underway without any oversight from
the authorities in Tripoli.

-'Blank cheque'-

In February, the speaker of the eastern administration's parliament, Aguila
Saleh, announced the creation of a reconstruction fund headed by Belgacem
Haftar, one of the strongman's six sons.

By doing that, parliament gave Haftar a "financial carte blanche" worth 10
billion dinars ($2.1 billion), said Libya analyst Anas El Gomati.

"It's a blank cheque with zero oversight," added Gomati who heads the Sadeq
Institute think-tank.

Reconstruction should be supervised by UN agencies and local elected
officials who "would prioritise needs, merit and anti-corruption measures",
he said.

Instead, it is being carried out by "an impenetrable institution where
billions vanish", said Gomati.

The Haftars are "not rebuilding Derna, they are building their political
launch pads", said the analyst.

"Every brick laid in Derna is a stepping stone in their succession plan," he
added, referring to Haftar's children.

Belgacem Haftar is the figurehead of Derna's reconstruction, and unlike his
brothers Saddam and Khaled, he holds no military role.

He could use his position to "establish political standing at the national
and international level", said Jalel Harchaoui, a Libya expert at the
Britain-based Royal United Services Institute.

And as a whole, the Haftars could use their political clout to show that the
UN-recognised government in Tripoli is "ineffective and superfluous", he
added.

-'Minimise culpability'-

On Thursday, during a visit to the south, Belgacem Haftar claimed that 70
percent of reconstruction projects in Derna had been completed.

He said 3,500 homes have been rebuilt, while maintenance work had been done
on the city's power grid and in schools.

Authorities say they have also made some progress in judicial cases against
those responsible for the disaster.

In late July, 12 unnamed civil servants were given prison sentences of
between nine and 27 years for their roles in managing the collapsed dams.

The two dams were built in the 1970s by a Yugoslav company, but received very
little maintenance work despite a budget being allocated.

High-ranking officials, such as the mayor of Derna who happens to be a nephew
of Saleh, were not investigated.

The mayor's house had been set on fire after the flooding during angry
protests by demonstrators demanding accountability from the eastern-based
authorities.

Families of the victims have also contested the death toll announced by
officials in the east.

Officials have said around 3,800 people were killed in the floods -- based on
the number of bodies buried -- but the families believe many more died.

According to Gomati, a death toll of "14,000 to 24,000" is more plausible.

So far, "10,000 DNA samples from people still searching for their loved ones"
had been collected, he said.

The authorities in the east have been "minimising the death toll (in order
to) minimise their culpability", said Gomati.