More than 20000 people have died or gone missing! "NATO leaves a shattered territory to Libya"

"Who is responsible for the disaster in Libya?" A hurricane hit Libya on September 10th, causing massive flooding. Two dams in the historic city of Derna in the eastern part of the country collapsed, and large areas nearby were completely destroyed. As the death toll continues to rise and Libyan anger erupts, some media are beginning to reflect on what caused such a serious disaster in this North African country with oil resources comparable to the United Arab Emirates? Some people attribute it to natural disasters, while more believe it is a man-made disaster - irresponsible officials, dysfunctional governments, countries with long civil wars. Several key points have been frequently mentioned: in 2011, Western countries such as the United States intervened in Libya and supported the opposition in overthrowing the Gaddafi regime. Afterwards, Libya fell into a long-term civil war, and interference from multiple countries led to the emergence of two hostile regimes in the east and west of the country. Economic development and people's livelihood construction were ignored, and infrastructure was not maintained. "For these external countries, the lives of Libyans are far less important than their vested interests," said an article in The Washington Post. A netizen posted on social media platform X that compared to the previous heinous and aggressive use of force, Western countries are now miserably stingy in providing aid to Libya. The US led NATO only focuses on destruction and does not care about construction, leaving a shattered homeland for Libya. "Libya is still crying on almost ruins, and the floods in Delna are like the tears of Libyans.".

Death toll: 3000 people? 10000 people? 20000 people?

There are currently "two governments" in Libya: the Libyan National Unity Government located in the capital city of Tripoli has been recognized by the United Nations and controls part of the western region; The Libyan National Assembly has formed an alliance with the National Army, primarily controlling the eastern and central regions. "In this war-torn country, rescue efforts are in chaos," Agence France Presse reported on the 17th, stating that the eastern government controlling Delna set the death toll at 3252 in its latest report.

On September 17th, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs cited statistics from the Libyan Red Crescent Society, stating that the death toll in the Delna region alone could reach 11300, with another 10100 missing. "These numbers are expected to continue to rise in the coming days and weeks.". However, the Libyan Red Crescent Society later stated that these numbers were not released by the organization.

The Washington Post reported on the 15th that a sudden flood has washed multiple communities in Derna into the sea, potentially resulting in about 20000 deaths and thousands missing. Libyans have described it as the country's 9/11 attacks. "A few days after the disaster, some areas of Delna are still underwater. Thousands of corpses rotting on muddy streets, raising concerns about the spread of the disease."

Is this a natural disaster or a man-made one? The Financial Times reported on the 15th that although experts have long warned that Delna's dam may burst, the local government quickly defended itself. Aguilar Saleh, the chairman of the Eastern government parliament, stated in an emergency meeting that no one should be blamed. He said, "This is the will and action of Allah. Don't say, 'If we do this or that, it would be good.' What happened in our country is a natural disaster."

This statement has not been accepted. It is reported that the dam that burst in the hurricane disaster was built in the 1970s. Before Gaddafi was overthrown, the Libyan government signed a repair contract with a Türkiye company. The related project is planned to start in October 2010. "But due to the civil war and NATO's expulsion of Gaddafi, this project was clearly cancelled." The Financial Times reported that Libyan researcher and senior analyst at the "Global Initiative" organization, Ahmad al Badi, said, "The hurricane was just a match, igniting the fuse. Political elites and security authorities set the stage for today's crime scene."

The term "dysfunctional" has been repeatedly mentioned in Western media reports on the floods in Libya. According to Agence France Presse, after the hurricane made landfall and caused heavy rainfall, local residents in Delna received conflicting messages. Some were told to evacuate immediately, while others were asked to stay at home; After the disaster, both governments in Libya did not carry out rescue work in a timely manner, and even passed the buck to each other.

United Nations agencies have stated that the prolonged civil war has severely damaged Libya's meteorological observation network. If early warning and emergency management systems were functioning properly, most of the deaths from this disaster could have been avoided.

On the evening of the 15th, Libyan Prosecutor General Sidiq Sur held a press conference in Delna, stating that the prosecution has launched an investigation into the collapse of the dam. The investigators come from different regions of Libya and are involved in matters such as the flow of funds for dam repair. He said that cracks appeared in these two dams over 20 years ago. "Regardless of who committed the mistake or dereliction of duty, the prosecution will take tough measures to initiate a criminal investigation and transfer them to trial."

"The Libyan people harbor resentment and resentment."

"Libya is different from other countries. This vast North African country has a population of 6 million and the largest proven oil reserves on the African continent. It has natural wealth comparable to that of the United Arab Emirates, but its citizens find it difficult to access basic welfare, and the fiercely contested political elites divide the country into individual territories," the Financial Times said.

Reuters reported that Libya's problem has never been a lack of resources. Despite 12 years of chaos, it remains a relatively wealthy country with a sparse population and a per capita GDP of over 6000 US dollars, making it a middle-income country. The country also has a decades long history of large-scale engineering projects. "But since Gaddafi's downfall, oil wealth has been distributed to competing groups that control administrative institutions, almost untraceable."

"Who should be responsible for the disaster in Libya? Everyone," according to a report by The Washington Post on September 15th. After the devastating disaster in eastern Libya, people criticized it. Libyans believe that the anger of Allah and the incompetence of those who give orders on the ground have jointly caused this disaster. The report states that the unstable situation in Libya is the result of external intervention. "In 2011, NATO led an intervention to launch bombing on the ground of protecting civilians from Gadhafi's regime, and promote the development of the conflict in favor of rebel organizations." "After the overthrow of Gadhafi, civil war broke out, and all hostile forces received strong support from abroad." Türkiye and Qatar supported the Tripoli government, while Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and France supported the eastern regime. "At the same time, 'solipsism' has taken root in the United States. Former President Trump condemned the overthrow of Gaddafi, but denied that the United States bears any responsibility for the future of Libya. The United Nations mission, which lacks resources, has been working hard to promote political reconciliation between the warring parties."

"The Libyan people harbor resentment and resentment," The Washington Post said. Tariq Megrisi, a scholar at the European Commission on Foreign Relations, said that Libyan social media is "filled with criticism of European governments," and "people say that the active intervention of Europeans in Libyan politics has led to corrupt Libyan politicians, but these Europeans have disappeared when they really should have provided help.". The Financial Times reported that despite so many players vying for power and influence, no one considered the residents of Delna or its crumbling dam until it was too late. A former Western diplomat working in the country spoke of the immense anger of the Libyan public, saying, "I hope this is enough to drive away all the rioters."

How to allocate foreign aid materials

"Everyone should resign," said prominent Libyan journalist Khalil Hassi in a television interview. "We used the internet to retrieve bodies from the sea. We don't believe in their investigation, their judiciary. We don't believe in anything about this failed country.".

Reuters reported that in Libya, dividing responsibilities has never been an easy task. A rescue volunteer said in an emotionally charged video posted online, "Many people are responsible for this. It's a human error, but no one will pay the price for it."

After the disaster, a continuous stream of aid materials from abroad arrived in Libya, and how the two hostile regimes distributed these materials has attracted attention. German expert Rah said that at the societal level, the entire Libyan people have shown great unity and spontaneous support for Delna, "but for Libyan political participants, this is just another episode of the struggle for money and power.".

A Global Times reporter saw that on Arab social media, some netizens are expressing their opinions. The Saladin Eagle posted on its Facebook account stating that infrastructure across Libya has been devastated by war and unrest, a war launched by NATO that was inhumane and heinous. The netizen claimed that the flood history in Delna is rare, and today's disaster seems to have been predetermined, as the seeds of the disaster were planted by military intervention from Western countries.

Some netizens also expressed that the flames of war and the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Libya after the war have seriously hindered Libya's social development, economic recovery, and normal living order, causing Libya to go from a "heavenly country" with excellent welfare in the past to a "hellish place" now.