News highlights: Refugees fear UNHCR investigation, EU elaborates on ‘disembarkation centres’, 18-month national service limit may arrive

In this week’s news highlights: news highlights on summer break; Indefinite national service for new Eritrean recruits may be limited, but diaspora remains cautious; Refugees fear lack of protection in UNHCR investigation in Sudan; Eritrean refugees in Sudan are losing faith in UNHCR; Report on Ethiopian man wrongfully deported from UK; New South Sudan peace deal met with scepticism; Somalia to prosecute in case of 10-year-old dying from FGM; European Commission elaborates on ‘controlled centres’ and ‘disembarkation centres’; European Commission defends development-migration fund link; MSF warns EU to stop return of migrants to Libya.  

News Highlights: Eritrea-Ethiopia Peace Agreement Signed, EU Funds New Migration Action in North Africa

In this week’s news highlights: The new Eritrean-Ethiopian agreement ends no war, no peace situation; Though Eritreans are happy about the deal with Ethiopia, they remain uninformed about Afwerki’s impetus; UN extended mandate of Special Rapporteur for Eritrea; South Sudanese opposition SPLM (IO) urges for AU’s additional involvement in peace process; Eritrean Afar People’s Declaration; New booklet sheds light on Eritrea; ten NGOs send letter to the AU urging for improvement in shrinking civic space; EC announces new fund for North Africa migration management; Austrian Interior Minister wants to push EU to stop accepting asylum claims; and Doctor in Lampedusa horrified by the situation of his refugee patients.

New agreement ends no war, no peace situation between Ethiopia and Eritrea

Eritrea and Ethiopia have agreed to end the conflict that has existed between the two countries since 1998. In signing the agreement the Prime Ministers of the two countries made a commitment to begin normalizing relations between their countries. In announcing the agreement Eritrean Information Minister said that the “state of war that existed between the two countries has come to an end”.