Is this Libyan warlord trying to dominate disaster response in floods-hit Derna city?

Thousands of people lost their lives in devastating flash floods in Libya, which struck the coastal city of Derna earlier this month. The region has been reeling with the distressing aftermath, with survivors struggling for basic amenities and rescue workers combing through mud and rubble to find bodies.

Fresh concerns have emerged after The Guardian reported that the warlord, Khalifa Haftar and his sons, are usingdisaster response as a means to exert control.

The death toll has climbed to 11,300, the United Nations said in an update on Saturday (September 16), citing the Libyan Red Crescent. Another 10,100 people are still missing.

But the Libyan Red Crescent denied the death toll, with spokesman Tawfik Shoukri telling news agency AFP from Benghazi that "we are shocked to see our name mixed up with these figures". He added that "they add to the confusion and distress of the families of the missing".

First responders and rescue workers worked day and night to help the survivors, and they were sometimes surrounded by militants from the Libyan National Army, which is a military coalition loyal to Haftar.

The newspaper mentioned in its report that some of the observers described a few instances as efforts to keep a grip on vital assistance arriving in the flood-ravaged city.

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As quoted, Emadeddin Badi, an analyst on Libya with the Atlantic Council, said: "Essentially there is a military presence that is creating bottlenecks rather than being conducive to the provision of relief."

"The main thrust of relief efforts was not facilitated by the military leadership, which had a vested interest in appearing in control while skirting responsibility and victim-blaming, but instead by volunteers, medical teams, Red Crescent, boy scouts and foreign search and rescue teams," Badi added.

Badi added, "On the public relations side, they are leveraging their pre-existing propaganda channels to appear in control, while being the main interface for administering crisis relief and being the custodians of the city. But again, that’s creating bottlenecks everywhere. Haftar’s visit was a microcosm of this issue, everything was frozen for an hour for a PR stunt."

Previously, politicians and analysts highlighted that over a decade of bloody power battles in Libyaresulted in vital infrastructure falling into disrepair, culminating in the catastrophic death toll.

(With inputs from agencies)

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