News Highlights: Russia visits Eritrea, 200.000 refugees enslaved in Libya, EU ministers ponder controversial migration reforms

In this week’s news highlights: Russian foreign minister visits Eritrea; Ethiopian PM visits Sudan; Eritrean troops announce withdrawal from Tigray, but forces remain; Reform of regional administration in Tigray proposed; Military exercises and weapons inflow in Ethiopia; Ethiopian Orthodox Church in tension as three Archbishops break away; Fighting continues in Oromia; Experts warn against normalisation of relations with Ethiopia and Eritrea; IDPs in Abbi Adiy suffer lack of food and medicine; US Airstrikes in Somalia; ICC Prosecutor urges Sudan to cooperate in Darfur trial; Horn of Africa drought forecast for 2023; Digital education in East Africa; 200.000 refugees and migrants estimated enslaved and tortured in Libya; EU migration reforms start with demands for walls and externalisation; EU Foreign Affairs Council yields nothing on Ethiopia; Greece boasts of 260.000 refugees and migrants halted; Irish rescue ship prepares for mission; and UNODC warns victims of trafficking less often identified.

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News Highlights: Eritrean troops digging in, Asylum seekers pushed back to Greece in boat prisons; EU migration policy criticised

force’ in Sudan’s Darfur; Internal memo advises EU operation to continue amidst Libya instability; Report states asylum seekers in the EU are illegally pushed back in prisons below deck; New Frontex director pledges end to pushbacks; EU foreign council meeting on 23 January;  Report states Russia might ‘weaponise migration’; and EU migration policy a “cruel, myopic shambles”, states The Guardian.

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News Highlights: Heavy weapons hand-over starts in Tigray, Alleged Eritrean trafficker appears in court, Italy’s decree could cause more deaths at sea

In this week’s News Highlights: TDF starts hand-over of heavy weapons; Presence of Eritrean troops continues in Tigray; German and French Foreign Ministers visit Ethiopia; Fighting escalates in Oromia; Ethiopian airlines restricts passengers flying between Addis and Mekelle; Alleged human trafficker Kidane arrested in Sudan; Final round of talks between military and civilian leaders in Sudan; Three aid workers and 11 civilians killed in South Sudan; Over 1000 migrants and refugees already returned to Libya this year; HRW warns that Italy’s anti-rescue decree risks more deaths at sea; Human trafficking suspect Welid appears in court in the Netherlands; UNHCR urges EU to treat all refugees equally; EU provides additional EUR 25.5 million to address food crisis in Africa; and German ruling published states Eritreans should not be forced to embassy for papers. 

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