Libyan Rivals Co-Ordinating Over Flood Relief

The two rival governments in Libya are coordinating relief efforts for flood victims.

Reports say more than 5,300 people died after two dam bursts brought devastating floods to the eastern city of Derna.

According to the report, at least 10,000 people are missing, and tens of thousands more have been displaced.

A UN official said that both the eastern and western governments had requested international aid and were liaising with each other.

“Both governments have reached out to the international community requesting services and help,” Tauhid Pasha, of the International Organisation for Migration reports.

“The Government of National Unity [western government] has extended its support to us and its request on behalf of the entire country and they are also coordinating with the government in the east,” he said.

“The challenge now is the international community responding accordingly to the needs and the requests of the governments,” he added.

Mr. Pasha said support needed to be scaled up “very, very quickly, and to do so we need money”.

Since the fall of long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been split between the two rival governments and mired in conflict between numerous different militias.

Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah leads the UN-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli, Libya’s western capital city.

Osama Hamad, the prime minister in the east, leads a rival administration known as the House of Representatives. However, many feel the power there is held by military strongman Gen Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army,

Gen Haftar received an Egyptian military delegation which came to offer aid and support after the disaster.

UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Volker Turk stressed that all political groups had to work together in the aftermath of the floods.

“This is a time for unity of purpose,” he said. All those affected must receive support without regard for any affiliations. Particular care must be taken to ensure the protection of groups in vulnerable situations who are rendered even more at risk in the aftermath of such a disaster.”

Abdulkader Assad, the political editor of the Libya Observer, said having an internationally recognized government in the west rivaled by another government in the east had hindered rescue efforts.

“We all know that Libya has been split between two governments for the last decade at least and we haven’t felt the impact of this division because the presence of two governments was all about vying for power and taking control of the country and parts of the country,” he said.

“But now that some of the cities are experiencing this natural disaster, this calamity, we could see that the lack of a unified centralized government is affecting the lives of people.”

BBC