News Highlights: Eritrea conference aftermath, famine and South Sudan ethnic killings

In this week’s news highlights, the Dutch-Eritrean relations are becoming more and more tense after the ban of the Eritrean youth conference and during the weekend thousands of people were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea. In the Horn of Africa, Eritrean nurses and care workers are not allowed to show how famine is devastating the country and the government-backed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reports on the violent episodes of the last six months. Furthermore, in South Sudan the government is perpetrating ethnic killings against its presumed opponents.

Eritrean ambassador summoned under toughening Eritrean-Dutch relations

The Eritrean ambassador to the Netherlands has been summoned by the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs, Bert Koenders, over evidence that the embassy was involved in extortion of Dutch-Eritreans. Dutch media has found evidence that the embassy was involved in pressuring Eritreans to pay €50 in contribution to a conference by the youth wing of Eritrea’s only party.

News Highlights: Eritrean conference in the Netherlands, Slave markets in Libya

In this week’s news highlights, the Dutch-Eritrean community and Dutch politicians are disturbed by an Eritrean conference with a high-level official in attendance, a report shows possible scenarios for Europe’s refugees and migrants, and IOM has disturbing reports on slave markets and extortion in Libya. In the Horn of Africa, Djibouti hosts many refugees and there are reports of child abduction in Ethiopia by a South Sudanese tribe. Furthermore, there are concerns about how EU aid is affecting Sudan’s “militia state”.