News Highlights: European Parliament condemns al-Bashir in resolution, New refugee proclamation in Ethiopia, Refugees in Libya starve as clashes erupt

In this week’s news highlights: European Parliament condemns al-Bashir in resolution on Sudan protests; Ethiopia ratifies new refugee proclamation; terrorist attack in Kenya; Four commercial checkpoints to open along Ethiopia/Eritrea border; Resilient smuggling networks are still active between Sudan and Eritrea; Eritrea attempts to intimidate BBC; refugees without food and water after clashes in Libya; European Parliament debates asylum and migration policy; Switzerland concludes return agreement with Ethiopia; EU increasingly relying on “informal” migrant returns to Sub-Saharan Africa: report; OECD report about economic chances of migration; and Merkel says EU Turkey deal is dysfunctional. In other news: new report on human trafficking for ransom and protests in Zimbabwe.

Fighting in Libya causes desperate situations for refugees in detention centres

Fighting broke out around the Tripoli area in Libya this week, leaving refugees in desperate situations. After a militia group failed to withdraw from the Qasr Bin Gashir area south of Tripoli, the protection force of the UN-backed government attacked. Other clashes in the area threatened the unstable ceasefire as well. Reports from the Bin Gashir detention centre, run by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), state that the refugees have been without food and water for two days.

Eritreans protest in The Hague to draw attention to refugees in Libya

The Hague – Around 200 Eritreans gathered in the political capital of the Netherlands to ask for help for Eritrean refugees in Libya. As violence has broken out in Libya, the refugees have increasingly become trapped. The Eritreans protesting in the Netherlands report that Eritrean refugees have been, among other things, tortured, shot, raped and starved. Pictures of trapped groups of people, including of young children and women, are circulating on social media. The protesters ask for help from the UNHCR, the European Union and in particular the Netherlands to provide an emergency solution.