Flooding caused by torrential rains has left at least 150 people dead in eastern Libya, which has been hit by storm Daniel after Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, an official source said.
Speaking on the Almasar channel, the head of the executive in eastern Libya, Osama Hamad, put forward figures of “more than 2,000 dead and thousands is missing” in the city of Derna alone, but no medical or rescue service source confirmed this death toll.
While the media in eastern Libya widely echoed Mr. Hamad’s statements, the separate figures they reported from different localities were far lower than those he put forward.
“At least 150 people were killed due to flooding caused by storm Daniel in Derna, in the Jabal Al-Akhdar regions and in the suburbs of Al-Marj”, Mohamed Massoud, spokesman for the head of the eastern Libyan executive.
Described by experts as “extreme in terms of the amount of water falling”, storm Daniel has already claimed at least 27 lives in recent days in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Daniel hit eastern Libya recently, particularly the coastal towns of Jabal al-Akhdar (northeast) but also Benghazi, where a curfew was declared and schools closed.
The east of the country is home to the main oil fields and terminals. The National Oil Company (NOC) declared a “state of maximum alert” and “suspended flights” between production sites, where activity has been drastically reduced.
Rescue teams were dispatched to Derna, a city 900 km east of Tripoli and 300 km east of Benghazi was partially destroyed during violent clashes in 2018 between the forces of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, strongman of eastern Libya, and radical Islamist groups that controlled the city.
With a population of over 100,000, the coastal town is crossed by a wadi that flows into the Mediterranean and which overflowed due to the storm by around fifty meters on each side, washing away buildings and houses in its path, according to videos broadcast by the media.
A Derna city council official described the situation in his city as “catastrophic”, “out of control” and requiring “national and international intervention”, in statements to local channel Libya al-Ahrar.
The head of the Presidential Council (PC) Mohamad al-Manfi called for “help from brotherly and friendly countries and international organizations” and officially declared the cities of Derna, Shahat and al-Bayda in eastern Libya a “disaster zone”, according to a statement on Facebook handle.
Burkina junta lifts radio station’s suspension over Niger coup criticism
Burkina Faso’s junta-led government said one of the country’s most popular radio stations could resume broadcasting after being suspended for airing an interview deemed “insulting” to Niger’s new military leaders.
Radio Omega was ordered off the air on August 10 but has had the suspension lifted; Communications Minister and government spokesperson Rimtalba Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo announced in a statement.
The government “very carefully examined” the request made by the Burkinabe media monitoring centre known as OBM following a request by Radio Omega, he said.
It had listened to the “argument that ‘the radio team has learned the lessons of this sanction’,” he added.
The government remains committed to freedom of opinion and of the press, as well as to the “responsible” carrying out of the journalistic profession, the minister said in statement.
Radio Omega ran on Aug. 10,in an interview with Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, the spokesman of a newly established Nigerien group campaigning to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power.
Niger’s elected leader was overthrown on July 26 by members of the Presidential Guard. Moumouni made “insulting comments with regard to the new Nigerien authorities”, minister Ouedraogo said at the time of the channel’s suspension.
At the time he said, the suspension was “in the higher interests of the Nation.”
Radio Omega is part of the Omega Media Group, owned by journalist and former foreign minister Alpha Barry.
Burkina Faso underwent two military coups last year, each triggered in part—as in Mali and Niger—by discontent at failures to stem a raging jihadist insurgency.
It swiftly declared solidarity with Niger’s new leaders and joined Mali in warning that any military intervention to restore Bazoum would be considered a “declaration of war” against them.
In recent months, the Burkinabe authorities have suspended the French TV outlets LCI and France24, as well as Radio France Internationale
Africanews.com
