News Highlights: Russia visits Eritrea, 200.000 refugees enslaved in Libya, EU ministers ponder controversial migration reforms

In this week’s news highlights: Russian foreign minister visits Eritrea; Ethiopian PM visits Sudan; Eritrean troops announce withdrawal from Tigray, but forces remain; Reform of regional administration in Tigray proposed; Military exercises and weapons inflow in Ethiopia; Ethiopian Orthodox Church in tension as three Archbishops break away; Fighting continues in Oromia; Experts warn against normalisation of relations with Ethiopia and Eritrea; IDPs in Abbi Adiy suffer lack of food and medicine; US Airstrikes in Somalia; ICC Prosecutor urges Sudan to cooperate in Darfur trial; Horn of Africa drought forecast for 2023; Digital education in East Africa; 200.000 refugees and migrants estimated enslaved and tortured in Libya; EU migration reforms start with demands for walls and externalisation; EU Foreign Affairs Council yields nothing on Ethiopia; Greece boasts of 260.000 refugees and migrants halted; Irish rescue ship prepares for mission; and UNODC warns victims of trafficking less often identified.

News Highlights: Eritrean troops digging in, Asylum seekers pushed back to Greece in boat prisons; EU migration policy criticised

force’ in Sudan’s Darfur; Internal memo advises EU operation to continue amidst Libya instability; Report states asylum seekers in the EU are illegally pushed back in prisons below deck; New Frontex director pledges end to pushbacks; EU foreign council meeting on 23 January;  Report states Russia might ‘weaponise migration’; and EU migration policy a “cruel, myopic shambles”, states The Guardian.

News Highlights: CoHA evaluation modalities agreed, Famine “fast approaching” in Somalia, Italy increases pressure on NGO rescues

In this week’s News Highlights: Tigrayan and Ethiopian negotiators reach agreement on CoH Agreement evaluation modalities; Ethiopians voice their fears and hope about peace; Urgent aid needed for Somalia’s rural communities; Somali troops return from Eritrea starts; Government forces continue offensive against al-Shabaab; Somali government orders media to submit content for approval; Sudanese security forces disperse pro-democracy protesters; al-Bashir admits role in 1989 coup; New expert on the situation of human rights in Sudan designated; Over 260.000 in need of humanitarian support in South Sudan; UN Special envoy for Libya warns of signs of partition; Irregular migration into Europe on the rise; Statement of the European Commission and High Representative on international migrants day; New rules to fight trafficking in human beings in the EU; New rules for private search and rescue operations in Italy; and Deglobalisation of food systems amidst worsening hunger crisis.