The Latest Breaking News from Muammar Gaddafi

In the early hours of September 11, residents of Derna in north-east Libya woke to the sound of loud explosions. After more than a decade of conflict – initially between the Gaddafi regime and local factions, then among militias fighting for rule – they were used to the noise.

Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya, has placed his six sons in positions of political and military power. The deadly floods in Derna have seen his youngest, Saddam, rise to head of disaster relief management and the top of his succession charts. For Libyans, it spells more bad news.

The United Nations said in a report released Sunday that the death toll from devastating floods that hit the Libyan city of Derna earlier this week is at least 11,300. The Libyan Red Crescent, which was cited in the report, later denied the toll, saying it was “shocked” to see…

A century ago, the coastal city of Derna was well known for picture-perfect beaches, palm trees and whitewashed villas mainly inhabited by Libya’s Italian colonial occupiers. Today, in the aftermath of Storm Daniel, which brought 400mm of rain to the region, overwhelming two dams and sweeping millions of tons of…

The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

In today’s newsletter: The two north African nations, separated by only 2,000km, have had very different responses to their flooding and earthquake – and civilians are losing out

While the floods were unprecedented, experts argue that years of neglect and corruption worsened the tragedy.

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With thousands of people dead and tens of thousands more left homeless by floods as a storm burst through the dams next to the east Libyan city of Derna, FRANCE 24 looks back at the years of violence and neglect that left the city ill-prepared for the unprecedented natural disasters…