Eritrea

The voluntary repatriation of more than 160,000 Eritrean refugees, many of whom have been in exile since the 1960s, from Sudan was to resume toward the end of the week, a UNHCR spokesman said on 19 October.

With European Union (EU) ambassadors to Eritrea about to leave, following their recall by their home governments "for consultations", and with more arrests of opponents witnessed in recent days, the Eritrean government has defended a recent crackdown on its opponents and the media.

With European Union (EU) ambassadors to Eritrea about to leave "for consultations",the Eritrean government has defended a recent crackdown on its opponents and the media.

The government of Eritrea has asked Antonio Bandini, the Italian ambassador in Asmara, to leave the country following European Union (EU) protests over alleged human rights violations in Eritrea in the last two weeks.

The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have written a letter of protest to Eritrean President Isayas Aferwerki to express their "serious concern at the government's closure of Eritrea's eight private newspapers". The letter was sent in response to the indefinite closure on government orders of the country's free press last week.

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