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: Eritrean refugee released from Italian jail, Sudan massacre in videos, Eritrea Special Rapporteur mandate extended

In this week’s news highlights: Eritrean man released after wrongful accusation of human trafficking; Italian foreign minister asks for solidarity in a migration solution; German Minister Heiko Maas calls for a global ‘coalition of willing’ to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean Sea; NGOs call on EU Foreign Affairs Council to take ‘immediate action’; Report on Egypt cooperation with the EU ; Refugees living in dire conditions in Libya; UNHCR and IOM urge the international community to enhance protection f; Videos and pictures of Sudanese Paramilitary group opening fire against civilians; Eritrean Catholic Secretariat clarifies false information Health Centre seizures; and UN extend mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea.