LETTER FROM DERNA
News reports now only trickle in from areas devastated by Storm Daniel, which struck Libya's eastern coastline on the night of September 10. A month after the disaster, whose official death toll has been settled at almost 4,000, most journalists who visited the area have left. Hopes of returning to Cyrenaica (the region where Derna is situated) are slim, as eastern Libya remains difficult for the press to access.
The fault lies in the "authorizations" that must first be requested from the military authorities of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who has been in power in the region since 2018, and for whom "every journalist is a potential spy," summed up a local photographer, speaking on condition of anonymity. The current national context is not conducive to the requirements of this profession: The country, ravaged by more than a decade of armed conflict, is described as a " genuine information black hole" by the NGO Reporters Without Borders.
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, images on social media began to reveal the extent of damage caused in Derna by the bursting of two dams upstream. Journalists trying to reach the disaster scene were met with mistrust from the authorities as well as a proliferation of jurisdictions. The two rival governments vying for the legitimacy of power in Libya have one thing in common: They don't facilitate the press's work. Finding the right procedure to enter the country is therefore an administrative headache. At airports in Tunis, Istanbul and Cairo – the three cities with regular air connections to Libya – journalists have gathered to wait for the go-ahead.
WhatsApp discussions between media professionals were set up to share the latest news. To support them in their efforts, Libyan volunteers – activists or journalists themselves – tried as best they could to help direct the requests. "Obtaining a visa in Libya is extremely difficult. People have therefore contacted me to tell me they're having trouble getting into the country," said Nour Moman, a multi-talented woman whose jobs include translator and fixer. Moman has tried to connect the international press with the Libyan foreign and internal affairs services.
Her goodwill, like that of the other volunteers, was however of little avail when faced with the authorities' obstinacy. Requests piled up, with inconsistent responses. As a result, many journalists were never able to board a plane bound for the country, while others were turned away at Tripoli and Benghazi airports.
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