Press Briefing: Ethiopia on the edge of civil war as the international community calls for de-escalation

11 November 2020 – It has been one year since the Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize for his peace efforts with Eritrea and reconciliation in Ethiopia. However, the outbreak of conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region threatens to tarnish this accomplishment. On the Dutch radio programme Bureau Buitenland, Mirjam van Reisen, Professor in the Universities of Leiden and Tilburg and Secretary-General of EEPA, calls for urgent de-escalation and inclusion of all parties in diplomatic efforts.

News Highlights: Moria on fire, Tigray vote raises tensions in Ethiopia, 3 migrants jump from Maesk Etienne rescue boat

In this week’s news highlights: Tensions arise over vote in Tigray region, Ethiopia; Sudan ends 30 years of Islamic Law; New cohort of youth travels to national service training in Eritrea in crowded buses; Eritrean military colonel arrested in Asmara; US suspends part of aid to Ethiopia over Blue Nile dam dispute;  Eritrea – Sudan agree to bolster bilateral relations; UN chief Guterres calls for closing detention centers in Libya; Fires break out at Moria refugee camp; Migrants moved from centre on Lampedusa; 3 migrants jump from Maersk Etienne boat; Dutch advisory council recommends cooperation to prevent ‘digital colonialism’ in Africa; Opposing migration protests in Dover, UK; EU to improve integration of migrants in the labour market; and Ecological threats risk mass population displacement.

News Highlights: Alarm Phone’s reconstruction of deadly shipwreck week, refugee food rations cut amid funding shortages in East Africa, Italy convicts three men for crimes in Libyan detention center

In this week’s news highlights: Alarm Phone’s reconstruction of deadly week of shipwrecks off Libya’s coast; 15-fold increase in Libyan COVID-19 cases; IOM resumes migrant repatriation flights from Libya; Major food ration cuts for refugees in East Africa amid funding shortages; Many missing persons from Horn countries and Libya; Eritrean activist missing for over two years in Ethiopia; Italy convicts three men to twenty years in prison for crimes in Libyan detention centre; NGO Mediterranea to resume search-and-rescue operations; France relocates 49 unaccompanied children from Greece; Bosnia and Herzegovina’s restrictions on asylum seekers “discriminatory and reckless”; And Greece continues to claim ‘fake news’ as evidence of abuse and illegal pushbacks mount.