After an all-too-avoidable calamity, how to assist survivors from Libya’s dam bursts without lining the pockets of those who failed? As the UN estimates the death toll from the Derna disaster at 4,000 killed and another 9,000 missing, we ask about the years of neglect, the unheeded warning signs that Storm Daniel was coming, and in a nation effectively split in two, how channeling relief for the tragedy might in fact help the strongman who controls eastern Libya.
Khalifa Haftar's own sons are accused of capturing the humanitarian response for their political advantage. We review that claim. Rescue efforts are always challenging in a weak or failed state – remember the mismanagement after Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake. How challenging will they be in post-Gaddafi Libya?
Derna is on the Mediterranean and in a week when Europe is scrambling over a fresh influx of migrants, the tragedy is another reminder that Libya's neighbours to the north ignore its broken politics at their own expense. How to help build a credible, functioning state that's about more than the scramble for oil riches and power?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.
