The Red Cross warned of the danger of unexploded ordnance and abandoned ammunition stores in Derna after the floods that struck eastern Libya, while the World Health Organization announced that it would provide two million dollars to support flood victims.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Thursday of the danger of unexploded ordnance and abandoned ammunition stores in the Libyan city of Derna after the floods that swept it last Sunday, noting the "tremendous emotional shock" that the people are facing.
According to a statement published by the Red Cross on its website, the head of the ICRC delegation to Libya, Jan Fredes, said: “This disaster was violent and brutal, as a 7-meter high wave destroyed buildings and swept the infrastructure into the sea, and now families have been lost, and bodies have been thrown onto the shore by the waves.” now".
He explained: “The main challenge facing humanitarian work is reaching areas affected by floods, where roads have been seriously damaged or destroyed.”
He pointed out that "the International Committee is assessing the risks posed by unexploded ordnance and abandoned ammunition depots in Derna, which pose an additional challenge to the population."
It is believed that the war that took place in Sirte in 2016 between the terrorist organization ISIS and the forces of the former Government of National Accord, and the war that Tripoli witnessed between Haftar’s forces and the forces of the Government of National Accord in 2019, all left behind unexploded ordnance and mines.
Two million dollars from the World Health Organization
In the same context, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Thursday that the organization will provide two million dollars from its emergency fund to support flood victims in eastern Libya.
He stressed that "the health needs of survivors have become more urgent," explaining that "the World Health Organization will provide two million dollars from our emergency fund to support our response."
Tedros described the floods as an “unimaginable disaster,” revealing that the World Health Organization is distributing emergency supplies already in Libya, in addition to sending trauma treatment supplies, surgical and emergency supplies from its logistics center in Dubai.
Last Sunday, Hurricane Daniel swept through several areas in eastern Libya, most notably the cities of Derna, Benghazi, Al-Bayda, Al-Marj, and Sousse, leaving more than 6,000 dead and thousands missing, according to what the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in the National Unity Government, Saad al-Din Abdel-Wakil, announced on Wednesday.
Financial Times : Morocco is a vital ally of the West and rebuilding what was destroyed by the earthquake is important for Europe’s security
Writer Richard Shirreff, former Deputy Supreme Commander of NATO, argued that the West should rebuild Morocco after the devastating earthquake that struck the country. He said that the security of the West depends on rebuilding what was destroyed by the earthquake.
In his article, published by the Financial Times, he said that the reconstruction pledge, after the earthquake in which about 3,000 people died, is ambitious and necessary. This country, with a population of 37 million people, has remained the main measure of development on the continent, and is itself an oasis of stability.
Although it is not possible to predict these disasters that occur on a large scale, the only way that can be done is to mitigate their progress.
Shirif: The war in Ukraine has shown Europe that we cannot be complicit on threats to the security of our continent.
But there are disasters in our world today, which are predictable, and we cannot feign ignorance, when they appear within our borders. The war in Ukraine has shown Europe that we cannot be complicit in the threats to our continent's security. It was clear in the dangers of hesitation in military spending, and overconfidence that the balance of power can never be shifted by force.
But this war taught us a lot about uninvested power in strategic partnerships and crisis intervention in order to maintain regional security. Ukraine is fighting for its survival and the West's survival .
The goal for the future must be to avoid this scenario by forming partnerships that can anticipate and prevent conflict, rather than pushing it away from Europe's doorstep.
He urges that predictive intelligence should be used to identify places suffering from instability that may fall into chaos, and arming allies to be able to contain it. In today's world, this means looking to the south and east as well, and beyond Morocco to the Sahel and Sahara region, the most volatile and inflammatory region in the world.
Without an active, long-term strategy that takes regional allies, such as Morocco, as seriously as the West took Ukraine, the situation risks deteriorating.
Since the last decade of the last century, several countries on the continent, including Guinea and Chad, have witnessed a series of coups d'état, at a time when Western governments focused their future on lasting peace. These circumstances constituted a good tool for the growth of alliances between organized crime and terrorist groups, branches of major groups, in addition to smugglers of goods and people and rebel organizations that are trying to destroy the sovereignty of states.
Shirif: Without an active, long-term strategy that takes regional allies, such as Morocco, as seriously as the West took Ukraine, the situation risks deteriorating.
These conditions played a role in driving migration, and there are about 4.2 million displaced people in the Sahel region, with many of them trying to make the harsh journey north and across the Mediterranean.
The writer says that the spread of crime networks prevents any development capable of improving living conditions in the region, such as that which means confronting climate change, education and trade, reforming political institutions, and strengthening the contribution of women and religious and ethnic minorities.
These factors contribute to determining the stability of the region, and as experience has taught us, they cannot be imposed from the outside, and certainly from Western governments. Hence, continuing support and continuing diplomatic communication is important, but it is without weight if there are no partners who have an interest, a voice or a strategic position in the region, and it necessarily leaves lasting and real change.
The writer believes that Morocco is an ally in an exceptional position, and even before the terrible disaster , “we should have been closer.” As allies in intelligence and counter-terrorism, the Moroccans have stopped more than 300 terrorist attempts since the 9/11 attacks. In the field of immigration, over the past five years, they have arrested and uncovered thousands of human trafficking networks. They prevented more than 300,000 illegal immigrants who were on their way to the European continent, and about 45,000 immigrants were integrated into Moroccan society, most of whom were from the Sahel region. Above all, Morocco is a West-facing, Mediterranean country that respects the importance of civil reforms and economic development, and has a record of promoting both on the continent.
Shirif: Morocco is an ally in an exceptional position, and even before the terrible disaster, we should have been closer.
King Mohammed VI mediated disputes in the Sahel region and negotiated hundreds of cooperation agreements. More than 70,000 Moroccan soldiers were deployed among the United Nations peacekeeping forces. Morocco is considered the second largest investor in economic development on the continent, and a vital guarantor of its food security.
The writer believes that working closely with Morocco will give the West an opportunity to learn a lot about the complexities of the region. Such as Morocco's plan for autonomy in the Arabian Sahara, which is supported by the United States and the rest of the international allies, and as a solution to long-standing conflicts. This requires consideration and care from the West as part of a significant strategy. Above all, the West needs to show its understanding that the future of the region is the responsibility of its people who live in it. The writer says that the failure of European policy in the Sahel region is rooted in this idea and the lack of recognition of its importance. This brought the West to a vital juncture, namely the need for quick and decisive action in order to reduce tension, and any movement without the support and leadership of regional allies is doomed to failure.
The answer to all this is to accept the lessons learned from Ukraine, and to treat the Europeans and international security as two people. The West needs friends in Africa, just as Africans need Europe.
The Economist : The Moroccan disaster and the Libya hurricane revealed the extent of political neglect in the two countries and the neglect of infrastructure
Derna evacuated from residents to complete search and rescue operations.
The Economist magazine published a report on Hurricane Daniel that struck Libya and the Moroccan earthquake, and linked the two events to the fatal negligence of Moroccan and Libyan politicians. After the two disasters, the authorities refused to help and left the victims to suffer. The magazine said that the earth shook first, then the sky opened, and before midnight on September 8, an earthquake hit Morocco with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale, the strongest to hit the country in more than a century. The epicenter of the tremor was southwest of Marrakesh, under the Atlas Mountains. Mountain villages were turned into piles of rubble and at least 2,900 people were killed.
Two days later, Hurricane Daniel, a Mediterranean cyclone, struck eastern Libya. It dropped a meter of rain in one day, two or three times more than what the region witnesses in a good season during the course of a year.
In the port of Derna, located on a river valley, there are two dams, the water flowing from which wiped out entire residential neighborhoods. The death toll has exceeded 5,300 and thousands are missing. More than 10% of the city's population drowned in water.
The magazine says that the disaster that was followed by another carried a sense of resurrection, as many heart-breaking scenes were broadcast on Arab television channels, as people searched for their neighborhoods in homes that were destroyed by the earthquake or those that were flooded, and as days turned into hours, sadness became anger.
“The Economist”: There is nothing in common between Morocco and Libya...except what the two countries have in common is the lazy response to the two disasters, which were cruel and in a way that no one had imagined.
There is nothing in common between Morocco and Libya. The former is a country governed by a stable monarchy in the same family since the seventeenth century. However, Libya does not have one government, but rather two governments, one in the West that is recognized by the international community and another in the East led by a warlord, but neither of them is He has the ability to manage the affairs of the state.
Morocco is considered a well-known tourist destination for Europeans, while Libya is a war-torn country, even though it is considered one of the largest oil producers on the African continent. However, what the two countries have in common, according to the magazine, is the lazy response to the two disasters, which were harsh and in a way that no one had imagined.
The earthquake that struck Morocco came without warning, but although there is difficulty in predicting earthquakes, its features and trends can be predicted. In a study prepared by a group of earthquake experts in 2007, it identified more than 1,700 earthquakes in and around Morocco that occurred in the last millennium, including several earthquakes in the Atlas Mountains.
Although the Moroccan government has tightened building rules in recent years, many houses were built in simple ways and collapse quickly during an earthquake. In villages hit hard by this month's earthquake, villagers had little to do to strengthen the foundations of their homes. According to World Bank figures, one in five Moroccans receives $3.65 per day, compared to 4% in cities.
In the hours that followed the earthquake, Western countries offered support, but Morocco accepted it from four countries: Britain, Qatar, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. Two French charity workers were prevented from entering Morocco, while Germany formed a rescue team of 50 people to stop him hours later. The Moroccan government did not provide reasons for ignoring the offers. Some relief workers say that the large support may not be good, as the work of rescue teams interferes during attempts to search for survivors. Others believe that dignity and politics may be a reason, as accepting support from Spain, and not from France, is linked to the latter’s colonial role between 1912 and 1956. The Moroccan army led the rescue efforts, but the terrain made its work difficult, as opening roads to reach the isolated villages was slow, and the survivors needed Regular supplies of food and drink. Another factor in the slowness is the bureaucracy, which finds itself facing great burdens.
Moroccans are not sure whether their king was in Paris or Morocco when the earthquake occurred, and he did not visit Marrakesh until five days later. Before his arrival, workers were painting the slopes and pedestrian areas, which is strange.
Although the Moroccan response was slow, the Libyan response was chaotic, as the Libyan authorities had extensive warnings about Hurricane Daniel, which flooded Greece with water a week before it struck Libya. As he approached Derna, its mayor asked Khalifa Haftar, who controls the region, to evacuate the city’s residents, but the request was ignored, and people were not asked to leave the city as the water levels rose around the two dams. Daniel's devastation can only be understood from above, before and after, as satellite images show buildings in the valley wiped out.
The bridges were washed away, the once regular stream of water became wide, and the city was a shade of brown mud and mud. Foreigners offered support to Libya, but the arrival of rescue teams will face official obstacles, as the visas granted by Western Libyans may not be valid for use in the East. After years of civil conflict, no one has any idea how many people need help. Estimates of ministers and officials about the number of victims and missing persons are merely guesswork.
The residents of eastern Libya feel afraid because there is nothing to reassure them. A spokesman for Haftar warned on September 12 that another dam near the city of Benghazi was on the brink of collapse. He urged residents to evacuate, only to tell them hours later that the matter was under control.
The scale of the disaster reflects the neglect suffered by the city of Derna, which remained a center for Islamic extremism, and the dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown in 2011, was content to send its young men to fight in Afghanistan or Iraq. ISIS took control of parts of the city in 2014, although it was later expelled from it. Then Haftar, who hates Islamists, besieged the city in order to uproot the groups that expelled ISIS.
Climate models indicate that rising temperatures may bring more ferocious hurricanes, and forest fires have become a problem in the Mediterranean basin, which means that the governments of the basin must be more ready and prepared.
Most of Libya is in a state of chaos, and what is clear is the lack of investment in infrastructure in Derna, and this may have been the reason for the collapse of the dams built by a Yugoslav company in the 1970s of the last century without warning. Many Libyans suspect that Haftar was not sad to see the place flooded with water.
Moroccans will spend the following months in a state of anxiety about aftershocks, and with time hurricanes like Daniel may become normal. Climate models indicate that rising temperatures may bring fewer, but more ferocious, hurricanes to the Mediterranean. Forest fires have become a problem in the Mediterranean basin, which means that Basin governments must be ready and more prepared.
Sudan : The Rapid Support Forces threaten the army with the formation of an authority in its capital, Khartoum
The commander of the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, Hemedti, said that he will initiate direct consultations to form an authority with Khartoum as its capital, if the army forms a transitional government.
The commander of the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), threatened on Thursday to form a ruling authority in areas controlled by his forces if his opponents in the army form a government.
Hemedti has been fighting the army for about five months, in a conflict that has devastated Sudan and sparked a humanitarian crisis.
A senior official in the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, headed by Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said last month that there was a need to form a transitional government.
Hemedti said on Thursday: “If this situation continues or the remnants form a government, we will immediately begin broad consultations to form a real authority in the areas of our wide and extended control, whose capital will be the national capital, Khartoum, and we will not allow the creation of an alternative capital.”
Hemedti added that Al-Burhan's attempt to form a government based in Port Sudan "means that we are heading towards scenarios that occurred in other countries, with two parties controlling different regions in one country."
While the Rapid Support Forces are deployed in residential areas throughout Khartoum and in neighboring Bahri and Omdurman, the army is using heavy artillery and air strikes to repel them, causing hundreds of civilian casualties.
The Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), are exchanging accusations of responsibility for starting the fighting and committing violations during clashes that several truces failed to stop, which left more than 3,000 dead, most of them civilians, and more than 5 million displaced people and refugees inside and outside the country, according to the United Nations.