News Highlights: Sudan bans protests, Leaked documents on EU Operation Sophia, video shows abuse in Libya
In this week’s news highlights: Politico publishes leaked documents on EU operation Sophia; Germany confirms communication problems with Libya coast guard; EU-Arab League Summit discusses migration; African Union objects to ‘disembarkation platforms’; Video shows torture for ransom in Libya; Refugees threatened after abuse in Libya detention centre; State of emergency and protest ban in Sudan; Emergency state Sudan used to legitimise excessive force; Eritrea ranks high on slavery list; and militant guarding of Eritrea’s capital Asmara reported.
The African Union criticizes the EU’s disembarkation platforms
The African Union (AU), with Egypt as the current chair state, is hoping to halt the plan to establish so called regional disembarkation platforms proposed by EU leaders during the summer of 2018. The Guardian’s article reveals that the AU member states, in their ‘common African position paper’, discourage African coastal states from any cooperation with Brussels as the EU’s proposition would go against international law and would cause a creation of “de facto detention centers”
Reports of abuse in Triq al Sikka detention centre in Libya – refugees still detained
Human rights lawyer Giulia Tranchina posted a plea on social media to immediately gain access to and evacuate refugees that were severely abused in the Libyan Triq al Sikka detention centre. According to the post, hundreds of Eritrean and Ethiopian refugees were severely beaten by Libyan police. A small group is still being held in the centre and is told that the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will no longer be allowed access to them.