News Highlights: Eritrean Patriarch Antonios seen at Mass, Italy threatens EU, summer break

This week in the News Highlights: EEPA takes a summer break and the News Highlights will continue 17 August; Italy is keeping the option open of granting temporary visas for migrants; right-wing group aims to help returning migrants and refugees to Libya; Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, was seen at a Mass but according to witnesses, he was not allowed to speak; shots were fired in a three-hour exchange between the Eritrean and Ethiopian military; negotiations on sanctions US-Sudan continue; and state of emergency is declared in four South Sudan states.

News Highlights: resolution Eritrea passed, lifting sanctions Sudan delayed, Eritrean festival tensions

In this week’s news highlights, the European Parliament has passed a strong resolution on Eritrea; EU development aid for strengthening the military in countries like Somalia stirs criticism and fear of increasing militarisation of aid; tensions in the Netherlands and Italy over Eritrean festivals; Eritrean capital named World Heritage; U.S. decision on lifting of sanctions for Sudan delayed, Sudan freezes negotiations; and Libya coast guard involved in criminal activity, but still receiving EU support.

News Highlights: urgency resolution Eritrea, EU ‘reducing migration’, violence in South Sudan

In this week’s news highlights, the European Parliament is about to vote on an urgency resolution about Eritrea, mainly the cases of Patriarch Abune Antonios and journalist Dawit Isaak; the European Commission released new proposals for ‘reducing migration pressures’ in the Central Mediterranean Route; U.S. carried out a drone strike in Somalia aimed at Al-Shabaab; the African Union will send a delegation to Eritrea to discuss the dispute with Djibouti; Amnesty International warns of brutal atrocities in South Sudan; and UNHCR released a new report on mixed migration in Libya.