News highlights: Appeal to extend mandate UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea, Maltese PM implicated in illegal pushbacks, TPLF announces election plans
This week’s news highlights: Appeal to renew UN Special Rapporteur mandate on Eritrea; Tigray region plans to hold elections; Increased vulnerability of women and children in Kenya to domestic and sexual violence; Desert locust and COVID-19 devastating for malnourished children; Eritrean President meets Ethiopian Prime Minister in surprise visit; Eritrean-Ethiopean border divides families; Maltese prime minister implicated in illegal pushback operation; Malta uses private ships for pushback; Armed Forces of Malta ignore ship in distress; Quarantine ends for migrants and refugees on Italian ship; Italian union supports migrants on labour day; UNHCR distributes Ramadan food packages in Libya; UNHCR calls for more EU solidarity; And IOM guidance to curb anti-migration rhetoric.
COVID-19 and LOCUST-20 lead to unprecedented famine in East Africa
This month, communities across East Africa, which are already unsteady from the impact of COVID-19, are now also forced to fight against new swarms of locusts. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that the locust outbreaks in Ethiopia and Somalia are the worst in 25 years and in Kenya the worst in 75 years. The FAO expects that swarms will rise in June and July at the time of harvest and could cause ‘biblical’ famines. David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that urgent action is needed to avoid a catastrophe. The President of the African Development Bank believes that an unprecedented race against time has begun to urgently halt the progression and potentially destructive impact of COVID-19 and the locust swarms in Africa. The European Commission and the FAO have gathered funds to help in the fight against the growing locust swarms but challenges remain due to COVID-19.
EU plans additional Libya stimulus package amidst verbal and legal challenges from politicians, experts and NGOs.
While the European Union (EU) is looking to further bolster Libya and the Libyan coastguard, a majority of Members of European Parliament (MEPs) and a number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and experts criticize the EU’s involvement in the human rights abuses that are systematically taking place inside Libya. They state that Libya is not a safe place for the disembarkation of migrants and refugees and that by financially supporting Libyan institutions that facilitate widespread and systematic human rights abuses, the EU has been complicit in these crimes. This week steps were taken to address and review the EU’s policies and accountability inside Libya.