News Highlights: Witnesses speak about massacre in Aksum, Rescue boat lands in Sicily, Frontex called to suspend operations in Greece

In this week’s news highlights: Eritrean refugees detained in Addis Ababa; Fighting reported around Mekelle; Witnesses speak to AP about massacre in Aksum, Ethiopia; Sudanese refugees given go-ahead by US court for case against BNP Paribas for complicity in genocide through financing; President of Rwanda urges the UN Security Council to intervene in the Tigray conflict; UAE is dismantling Assab base, in Eritrea; Front-LEX and the Legal Centre Lesvos call Frontex to suspend its operations in the Aegean; Open Arms rescued 146 migrants in Central Mediterranean, 22 missing in other boat accident; Asylum seekers face difficulties in northern Europe welfare states; Libyans leaving for Europe on the rise; UNDP increases focus on digital projects; Young people to be involved in crisis management and humanitarian aid. 

For frequent updates about the situation in the Horn, please see the EEPA Horn situation reports. 

News Highlights: Renewed offensive from Eritrea feared in Tigray, More refugees face unsafe Mediterranean routes, Frontex fails to provide information

In this week’s news highlights: Fear for civilians, refugees and forced conscripts as threats emerge of renewed offensive from Eritrea on Tigray; Allegations of mass sexual violence in Tigray; Tigray’s population in severe humanitarian crisis; Renewed violence in Darfur, Sudan; Ethiopian journalist found dead in Tigray; UNHCR warns of acute risks for refugees and migrants on Mediterranean routes; Departures from Tunisia overtake departures from Libya in 2020; 80 migrants and refugees returned to Libya, 300 returned so far this year; Frontex fails to provide information in internal pushback investigation; More than 370 rescued refugees land in Sicily; EU-Turkey meeting on migration; Two smugglers jailed over the deaths of Vietnamese people locked in a lorry truck; Danish Prime Minister wants zero refugees; Lowest number of refugee resettlement in twenty years.

News highlights: Ethiopia reports arrest of human trafficker Kidane, Coronavirus measures impact refugees and asylum seekers, Schengen external borders closed for 30 days

In this week’s news highlights: UNHCR and IOM temporarily suspend refugee resettlement; Mixed Migration Centre criticizes ‘root cause’ approach to migration; COVID-19 could “decimate” refugee communities; Ethiopia reports the arrest of notorious human trafficker Kidane Zekarias Haftemariam and five others; 77.6 million dollar aid plan for Ethiopia; Refugees concerned about digital registration; UN Security Council proposes to end UNAMID mission in Darfur, Sudan; Nevsun’s Eritrea-slavery case has legal implications for other Canadian companies, EU closes the external Schengen borders for 30 days, exempting those seeking international protection; Migrants on Greek islands can receive 2.000 euro in new voluntary return initiative; Human traffickers sentenced to 125 years by Turkish court; Child dies in Lesbos refugee camp fire; The Netherlands closes asylum seekers’ centres for new inhabitants amid COVID-19 measures; Registration of asylum applications suspended in Belgium amid COVID-19 measures; Malta accused of ignoring distress calls; UN and IOM decry return of a refugee boat to Libya; And International community calls for a ceasefire in Libya to focus on COVID-19.