News Highlights: Sudan forms transitional sovereign council, sweeping violations in Greece, Churches criticize excommunication of Patriarch Antonios

This week’s news highlights will cover news over the month of August: Sudan forms transitional sovereign council; UNHCR completes investigation on bribes for resettlement; Orthodox Churches criticize excommunication of Patriarch Antonios of Eritrea; New report on national service and education in Eritrea; Ethiopians face violence and trafficking in Saudi Arabia and Yemen; Ethiopia-Eritrea road to open; 40 people feared dead after boat capsizes off Libyan coast; Europe fears increase of people fleeing Libya; Tunisia sends back migrants; NGO report denounces human rights violations in Greece; 900.000 asylum seekers in limbo in EU; and increasingly risky crossings to the UK.

Petition and letter to free five Eritrean refugees detained in Egypt after peaceful protest

Letters by Human Rights Concern Eritrea and Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights ask for the immediate release of five detained Eritreans in Cairo, Egypt. The five were arrested on July 21, 2019, and are held in an undisclosed location without access to legal representation. The detained are part of a group of around 500 Eritreans who demonstrated peacefully against alleged mismanagement and corruption by Cairo’s UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office. Their trial is set today (7 August 2019).

News Highlights: Eritrea round-ups of youth increase, reports of Sudan troops in Libya, deadly shipwreck at Libyan coast

In this week’s news highlights: Round-ups (Giffas) of youth for national service in Eritrea; Eritrean catholic church disputes government claims over health clinic seizure; Concerns over stalled Eritrea/Ethiopia trade; School students killed in Sudan protest; 115 people feared dead in Libyan shipwreck, survivors returned to Libya; Sudanese militia reportedly deployed in Libya; Refugees remain in detention after protest Egypt; UK detained victims of trafficking; 5 EU countries agree to resettle 116 stranded refugees and migrants; and law professor argues why ICC should move to prosecute the EU.