Desperate calls for more attention to be turned towards a country that has been in crisis for 12 years
“This is a huge wake-up call about the consequences of having corrupt governments, unaccountable governments,” Benghazi-born Libya expert Aya Burweila told The Irish Times through WhatsApp voice memos. “People are very, very angry. This is a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. This is a natural disaster but also a man-made disaster ... My bottom line is that corruption kills.”
Eastern Libya has long been neglected in terms of infrastructure, even under former dictator Muammer Gaddafi, Burweila explained. She feels particular sympathy for Derna’s population given their history: the city of roughly 100,000 people had already witnessed significant conflict and was at one point even controlled by the Islamic State, she recalled.
International aid workers say the latest tragedy in Libya has also underlined something significant about the global climate crisis: how it destroys the places least able to cope – those already vulnerable because of corruption, poor infrastructure and mismanagement, or for other reasons.
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