News Highlights: ACP-EU meetings, UN demands freedom Eritrean journalist, border management

In this week’s news highlights, the ACP-EU Joint Council of Ministers is taking place in Brussels, and EU Commissioner Avramopoulos warns European Member States that border controls at EU internal borders have to be removed before the end of the year. In the Horn of Africa, the UN calls for the liberation of the Eritrean independent journalist Dawit Isaak; furthermore, the South Sudanese government considerably raises fees for NGOs that work in the country.

News Highlights: concerns for minor refugees, Libya detention centres, Sudanese politics

In this week’s news highlights, the European Court of Auditors report shows dangerous conditions in Greek and Italian refugee camps especially for the 23000 children, while Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) again denounces the appalling conditions in Libyan detention centres. In the Horn of Africa, the UN Monitoring Group will deliver the midterm report on the 30th of April; Eritrea figures again at the bottom of the list in the Freedom of Press Index; furthermore, Sudanese politics are a house of cards, according to the Institute for Security Studies.

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.