From the mountains overlooking Derna, in Libya, the blue immensity of the Mediterranean Sea is veiled by a thick cloud of dust. It's a sign of the transformation of the city that has become a vast construction site after being ravaged by a flash flood just over a year ago. On the night of September 10-11, 2023, the bursting of two dams filled with a record amount of water spilled by Storm Daniel devastated part of this city of some 100,000 inhabitants, leaving at least 5,923 dead, according to the latest figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In reality, there is still no definitive death toll, with thousands of people still unaccounted for.

Here and there, across the maze of streets, new buildings are springing up, in addition to the restoration of buildings affected by the floods. Straddling the dry riverbed, a gaping hole divides the city, and two bridges will soon be completed to prevent residents from plunging back into the middle of this trauma every day. A huge portrait of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, head of the self-proclaimed "Libyan National Army" (LNA), which controls the eastern and southern parts of Libya, hangs from scaffolding at the foot of one of the bridges.

It was his son, Belgacem Haftar, who took charge of the Development and Reconstruction Fund, endowed with 10 billion Libyan dinars (around €1.9 million) by the parliament in Benghazi (eastern Libya). At 39, this trained engineer presents a new business and investment face to the family, contrasting with the military profiles of his father and two of his brothers, Saddam and Khaled, placed in commanding positions in the ANL. On Monday, September 9, in front of an assembly of engineers gathered at the fund's brand-new local headquarters, Belgacem Haftar congratulated himself on the progress of work in Derna, estimated by him at 70% complete.

On the left bank of the river, once the beating heart of the city, Anweige Almasawari drives forward cautiously. A year ago, the Hchicha shopping street and its surroundings were buried under masses of rubble, trapping countless corpses. A mournful silence still reigns, but most of the rubble has been cleared away. "The fund has reopened roads, unblocked the city and given people hope again," said Almasawari, a father and a professor at Derna University. Nevertheless, he tempered the progress announced, "70%? No, we're still a long way from that."

It will take time to rebuild everything, but the reconstruction fund already boasts that it has completed almost 20,000 new homes for disaster victims, thanks to the rehabilitation of projects launched – but never completed – by the regime of Muammar Gaddafi (1969-2011). A number of residents also told Le Monde that they had received monthly or fixed-rate financial aid of up to 100,000 dinars (almost €19,000).

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