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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/world/middleeast/libya-flood-aid-khalifa-hifter.html
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| East Libya Strongman Keeps Tight Control Over Aid After Floods | East Libya Strongman Keeps Tight Control Over Aid After Floods |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| Days after a torrential downpour collapsed two aging dams and unleashed a rushing wall of water that swept parts of the Libyan city of Derna and thousands of its people into the sea, the military strongman who rules the area came for a quick visit. | Days after a torrential downpour collapsed two aging dams and unleashed a rushing wall of water that swept parts of the Libyan city of Derna and thousands of its people into the sea, the military strongman who rules the area came for a quick visit. |
| Khalifa Hifter, the 79-year-old renegade commander and former C.I.A. asset, shook hands with soldiers, took a brief drive through Derna’s muddy streets and flew off in a helicopter. | Khalifa Hifter, the 79-year-old renegade commander and former C.I.A. asset, shook hands with soldiers, took a brief drive through Derna’s muddy streets and flew off in a helicopter. |
| The disaster that struck Derna on Sept. 11 has drawn renewed international attention to Mr. Hifter and his so-called Libyan National Army, a military coalition that controls the eastern half of the divided North African nation with an iron fist. | The disaster that struck Derna on Sept. 11 has drawn renewed international attention to Mr. Hifter and his so-called Libyan National Army, a military coalition that controls the eastern half of the divided North African nation with an iron fist. |
| More than a week after the disaster, as rescue efforts shift to the long and costly work of caring for the displaced and helping the city recover, Mr. Hifter’s tight hold over eastern Libya has made it clear that he will be the overall arbiter of the aid operation in the oil-rich country. | More than a week after the disaster, as rescue efforts shift to the long and costly work of caring for the displaced and helping the city recover, Mr. Hifter’s tight hold over eastern Libya has made it clear that he will be the overall arbiter of the aid operation in the oil-rich country. |
| That makes many longtime Libya watchers, including some who have spent time with Mr. Hifter, nervous. | |
| He oversees what is effectively a military dictatorship that competes for power with an internationally recognized government in the western half of Libya that is based in Tripoli, the capital. He has enriched and empowered himself and his sons while failing to provide basic services or maintain critical infrastructure, like the dams that burst last week, analysts and diplomats say. Human rights groups have accused his forces of grave abuses and potential war crimes. |