NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
- Head of the Emergency Medicine and Support Center (EMSC) – Tripoli, Muhammad Kablan, has announced that 51 bodies of Storm Daniel flood victims were found in six valleys in the municipality of Derna. The Center’s team found 17 bodies in Wadi Al-Assad, and recovered only four of them, while it did not succeed in recovering the rest of the bodies due to the difficulty of the mountainous terrain, Kaplan said in a press conference.
- The death toll in the flooding that has devastated a coastal city in Libya has risen to at least 11,300 people, according to the UN. Following the deadly storm Daniel which wreaked havoc in Derna and surrounding areas 10,100 are also still missing. Emergency crews are still trawling through the town in north eastern Libya for survivors a week after strom hit on 10 September.
NATIONAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL ISSUES
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The Head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Menfi, said that the flood disaster that struck eastern Libya is greater than the capabilities of the country, which has been exhausted by external interference and political division. Menfi added, in a teleconference speech before a high-level United Nations meeting, that the country needs reconstruction through organizing an international conference, and global support in all stages of rescue, investigation, reconstruction, and others.
- A government official from the interim government based in Benghazi stated that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deployed an additional forensics team to assist in identifying victims of the deadly flooding two weeks ago in Libya. The official said the newly arrived UAE experts specialize in DNA analysis to identify human remains. They will join the UAE team already working in Derna under the authority of the Libyan attorney general’s office. According to the official, the latest team will begin assisting in the ongoing recovery and identification efforts starting tomorrow morning. The official stated 145 bodies were found today in Derna, adding to 98 recovered.
- The U.S. Embassy in Libya clarified the contents of a message delivered by U.S. Africa Command leader General Michael Langely and U.S. Special Envoy to Libya Richard Norland to Libyan political leaders. General Langley and Ambassador Norland arrived in Tripoli earlier today and met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah at the Ministry of Defense, alongside Chief of Staff Muhammad Al-Haddad. The meetings are part of a series the U.S. delegation will hold with military and political officials.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- On Wednesday, September 20, General Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army, met with an Italian government delegation headed by General Gennaro Vecchione at the LNA headquarters in Benghazi. The meeting focused on the aftermath of the recent storm disaster in the city of Derna and areas of the Green Mountains in eastern Libya. During the meeting, Haftar praised the ongoing efforts and support of the Italian government for the affected areas, including the deployment of rescue teams, humanitarian aid, technical equipment, medical assistance and logistical support.
