Libya flooding: More than 5,300 feared dead after dams burst

Published

10 months ago

September 13, 2023

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More than 5,300 people are feared dead after devastating flooding struck Libya.

A quarter of the eastern city of Derna was wiped out by floodwaters after dams burst as Storm Daniel hit the country, the local administration said, with more than 1,500 bodies recovered so far.

There are fears the number of those killed will rise further, with 10,000 people reported missing after entire neighbourhoods were washed away.

More than 5,300 people in Derna alone have been killed, according to Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesman for the east Libya interior ministry.

Derna’s ambulance authority earlier put the number at 2,300.

Images showed a mass grave piled with bodies.

Disaster zone

Derna has been declared a disaster zone.

Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in Libya, said: “We can confirm from our independent sources of information that the number of missing people is hitting 10,000 so far.

“The death toll is huge and might reach thousands.”

He added that conditions in Libya were “as devastating as the situation in Morocco“, which has been recently hit by a powerful earthquake.

He later said that more than 40,000 people have been displaced.

The Red Cross secretary general and chief executive, Jagan Chapagain, said on Tuesday three volunteers from its Libya chapter had died while trying to help families impacted by flooding.

Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck.

‘Bodies lying everywhere’

Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the eastern administration, said: “I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous.

“Bodies are lying everywhere – in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings.”

Entire residential blocks were erased along Wadi Derna, a river that runs down from the mountains through the city centre.

Even multi-storey apartment buildings that stood well back from the river partially collapsed into the mud.

Cars lifted by the flood were left dumped on top of each other.

Othman Abduljaleel, eastern Libya’s health minister, said Derna was inaccessible and bodies were scattered across it, Libya’s state-run news agency reported.

“The situation was more significant and worse than we expected… An international intervention is needed,” he was quoted as saying.

Extent of disaster just beginning to dawn

Alex Rossi

International correspondent

@alexrossiSKY

It has taken time but it’s now quickly becoming clear to the outside world that Libya is facing a significant humanitarian catastrophe.

Storm Daniel has already caused chaos in southern Europe but the flooding in the east of the country may be even worse.

The disaster has been compounded by the problems Libya is already facing – years of war since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted have left the fractured nation in no place to deal with this terrible climatic event.

We don’t really know the numbers of dead – it’s definitely in the thousands but that tragic figure could rise much higher.

Aid agencies are pointing to the collapse of two dams in the coastal city of Derna as the reason for the worst of the devastation.

At least 10,000 people are missing according to the Red Crescent.

Reaching the areas worst affected is not easy – the swollen rivers and intense flash flooding have swept away roads and homes.

There are reports entire communities have been washed away into the sea.

Any relief effort will be also complicated by the political divisions that exist.

An internationally recognised government sits in the capital Tripoli but the east is administered – where Derna is located – by a different authority.

There are signs of aid moving from the capital eastwards, but for people in the flooded areas it cannot come quick enough.

It may be days before we know the true extent of this disaster and they get the help they need.

‘Never felt as frightened’

At Tripoli airport in northwest Libya, one woman broke down in tears as she found out most of her family were dead or missing.

Her brother-in-law, Walid Abdulati, said “we are not speaking about one or two people dead, but up to 10 members of each family dead”.

Karim al Obaidi, a passenger on a plane from Tripoli to the east, said he has “never felt as frightened” and that he has lost contact with family.

People were searching for bodies and men in a rubber boat retrieved one from the sea, footage broadcast by Libyan TV station al Masar showed.

“We have nothing to save people… no machines… we are asking for urgent help,” said Khalifah Touil, an ambulance worker.

Derna, on Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast, is bisected by a seasonal river that flows from highlands to the south, and it is normally protected from flooding by dams.

Derna is about 560 miles east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and is controlled by the forces of powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter, who is allied with the east Libya government.

West Libya, including Tripoli, is controlled by armed groups connected to another administration.

World

Julian Assange formally admits spying charge as part of a plea deal with US authorities

Published

4 hours ago

June 26, 2024

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Julian Assange formally admits spying charge as part of a plea deal with US authorities

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to one count of espionage as part of a plea deal with US authorities.

His court appearance took place on the US territory of Saipan. He left the UK on Monday after being released on bail from Belmarsh high security jail.

Addressing the court, Assange said that he broke US law by encouraging classified leaks, but said he believed the Espionage Act violates free speech.

As per the deal, the judge sentenced Assange to time already served in a British prison and told him he would be able to leave court a free man.

The US request to extradite the WikiLeaks founder on spying charges has been dropped and he is now on his way to his home country of Australia to be reunited with his wife Stella and their two children, Gabriel and Max.

Mrs Assange posted on X after her husband walked out of court: “Julian walks out of Saipan federal court a free man. I can’t stop crying.”

WikiLeaks said Assange is expected to arrive in the Australian capital of Canberra at 6.41pm local time (9.41am GMT).

The 52-year-old arrived at court in a dark suit, with a loosened tie, after flying from Stansted Airport in London on a charter plane and stopping to refuel in Bangkok.

The flight cost him $500,000 (£394,000) with Mrs Assange calling for “emergency” donations to cover the “massive debt” for the jet.

She said her husband was “not permitted to fly commercial airlines or routes to Saipan and onward to Australia” and any contribution would be “much appreciated”.

Inside court, Assange answered basic questions from judge Ms Manglona and appeared to listen intently as terms of the deal were discussed.

As a condition of his plea, he will be required to destroy information that was provided to WikiLeaks.

Assange left court in a white SUV without speaking to reporters, but his lawyer Jennifer Robinson said it was because of support around the globe that “today’s outcome is possible”.

She said: “Julian has suffered for more than 14 years because of risk of extradition to the US… today he pleaded guilty to an offence for having published information in the public interest… this sets a dangerous precedent, this prosecution sets a dangerous precedent.”

Thanking Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Ms Robinson said he “did what he needed to do to ensure Julian’s freedom”.

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Mr Albanese has publicly supported Assange as leader of the Australian Labour Party and as prime minister. He said in a statement earlier on Wednesday: “Regardless of what your views about Mr Assange’s activities, his case has dragged on for too long.

“There is nothing to be gained from his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”

The hearing took place in Saipan – the US Commonwealth territory – because of Assange’s opposition to travelling to one of the 50 US states and the court’s proximity to Australia.

The US department of justice said following his sentencing, Assange will leave the US and will be “prohibited from returning” without permission.

American prosecutors had alleged Assange put lives at risk when he helped former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files WikiLeaks put online in 2010.

He had been locked in a legal battle in the UK over his extradition, which included him entering the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012 prior to his detention in Belmarsh – where he had been since May 2019.

World

North Korea fires potential hypersonic missile towards sea, South Korea says

Published

4 hours ago

June 26, 2024

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North Korea fires potential hypersonic missile towards sea, South Korea says

South Korea has said North Korea may have launched a hypersonic missile towards the North’s east coast.

South Korea‘s joint chief of staffs said the launch on Wednesday morning originated from Pyongyang and appeared to fail before landing in the sea.

The country initially thought North Korea had launched a ballistic missile.

Japan’s defence ministry said the missile had reached an altitude of about 100km (62 miles) and covered a range of more than 200km (124 miles) before falling outside the country’s exclusive economic zone – an area of sea that a country claims the rights over to conduct economic activities.

No damage has been reported.

Earlier this week, North Korea criticised the deployment of US aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, to take part in joint military drills with the South and Japan.

It warned of an “overwhelming, new demonstration of deterrence” as a result.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded the US aircraft carrier – the first sitting president to do so since 1994 – and claimed the countries alliance is the world’s greatest, and can defeat any enemy.

Hypersonic weapons are considered the next generation of arms that aim to rob adversaries of reaction time and traditional defeat mechanisms.

What is a hypersonic missile?

Unlike ballistic missiles that fly into outer space before returning on steep trajectories, hypersonic weapons fly towards targets at lower altitudes and can achieve more than five times the speed of sound – or 3,850mph.

They are currently being developed by several countries and have reportedly been deployed by Russia and China, according to the UK Parliament website.

Uses for hypersonic missiles vary, but can include: rapidly striking high-value, time-sensitive or mobile assets, long-range precision strikes and enhancing nuclear deterrents.

Defence analysts disagree about the potential implications of hypersonic missiles for global peace and stability.

Some suggest they could increase the risk of escalating conflict, while others say that they will not alter the strategic balance between nuclear powers.

North Korea has launched various missiles that it claims are hypersonic over the few years. In April, Kim Jong Un watched over a test of what the country said was a new hypersonic-intermediate range missile using solid fuel.

The missile launch came hours after South Korea said the North floated flying balloons – believed to be carrying rubbish – across the border for a second day in a row.

The balloons caused a three-hour delay at the country’s Incheon international airport after one landed on the tarmac near one of the passenger terminals. Runways have since reopened.

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Pyongyang has also deployed a large squad of soldiers to build new fortifications within the heavily armed border between the two countries, according to the South’s military.

Occasional warning shots have been fired from South Korean counterparts.

World

Evan Gershkovich: US journalist seen ahead of trial in Russia

Published

4 hours ago

June 26, 2024

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Evan Gershkovich: US journalist seen ahead of trial in Russia

Evan Gershkovich has been seen before the start of his behind-closed-doors trial in Russia.

Reporters were allowed to briefly film the US journalist on Wednesday before the start of his trial in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that he denies.

Gershkovich was seen standing in a glass box, with a shaved head.

The Wall Street Journal report was first arrested on espionage charges in March 2023 after Russia claimed he had been “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA.

Mr Gershkovich faces 20 years in prison if convicted and he has spent over a year in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

Last week, the first details of the allegations against Gershkovich emerged as it was claimed that he was seeking information about Uralvagonzavod, a facility that produces and repairs military equipment, the prosecutor general’s office said.

The trial is due to take place behind closed doors – something Russia says is normal in espionage cases.

Mr Gershkovich, his employer and the US government all firmly deny the allegations and Washington designated him wrongfully detained.

“Evan has done nothing wrong. He should never have been arrested in the first place. Journalism is not a crime,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last week.

He added: “The charges against him are false. And the Russian government knows that they’re false. He should be released immediately.”

The Biden administration has sought to negotiate Mr Gershkovich’s release, but Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap only after a trial verdict.

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