Libya: besieged, Tripolitans now deprived of water in the midst of a coronavirus epidemic

Text by: Mathieu Galtier

Taking advantage of the siege led by Khalifa Haftar over the capital, a tribe based south of Tripoli closed a large water tank to obtain the release of fighters imprisoned by the Tripolitan militias. Running water to the city and the surrounding area has been cut for a week. With two million inhabitants affected, the UN fears a humanitarian crisis.

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From our correspondent in the region,

Besieged for over a year, the Tripolitans have been thirsty for a week. Deprived of running water, the population rushes to grocery stores to buy bottles. They only have a few hours to get their supplies because of the curfew, which runs from 2 p.m. to 7 a.m.

It is not the first time that Tripoli has had to do without water. In 2017, the Megara tribe was already behind the cut. Its stronghold, located south of Tripoli, includes the main reservoir that supplies the city. Supporters of Gaddafi, the leaders of the tribe are today behind Khalifa Haftar in his conquest of Tripoli. They demand the release of their combatants, imprisoned in the Libyan capital.

Haftar's army says it has nothing to do with this operation, which it says is the result of tribal tensions.

Wells almost unusable due to power cuts

To address the shortage, the Tripolitans had dug wells and installed rainwater collectors. Only, the fighting destroyed many of these collectors. And frequent power outages make the wells almost unusable.

In addition to the war since March 24, the appearance of the coronavirus. Without water, Tripolitans find themselves even more destitute to fight against the pandemic. For AbdelRahman Ghandour, the representative of UNICEF in Libya, this diversion of water is a war crime, even more currently, in times of global pandemic.

This amounts to a war crime: you cannot clean yourself, you cannot clean food, which means that the risks of an epidemic in general are much greater, including cholera. And it is all the more serious in times of coronavirus.

AbdelRahman Ghandour, representative of UNICEF in Libya

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• Libya
• Coronavirus
• Khalifa Haftar
• Water

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