EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS: Aftereffects of latest Ceuta incident still being felt in Morocco ― Agreement on plans for EU maritime rescue centre in eastern Libya ― Voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees from Egypt ― NGOs urge EU to cancel migration cont…

• The aftereffects of the large-scale irregular crossing of the border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta are still being felt weeks after the incident.
• The EU has agreed plans to establish a maritime rescue centre in eastern Libya.
• More than 1,100 Sudanese refugees have reportedly returned home from Egypt in the latest phase of an ongoing voluntary repatriation scheme.
• A large group of NGOs has used the third anniversary of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding to call on the EU to end its border- and migration control support to Tunisia.

The aftereffects of the large-scale irregular crossing of the border between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta are still being felt weeks after the incident. On 15 August, Moroccan security forces arrested 294 people who were reportedly trying to reach Ceuta. According to Moroccan state broadcaster Medi 1 TV, 61 Moroccans were also arrested for facilitating the migration attempts. Commenting on the arrests, the president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), Hakim Sikouk, told the EUobserver online newspaper that some of the arrested people had been “mistreated”. He added that most of them would be “deported to their countries of origin” apart from Sudanese nationals who would be “sent to the Sahara of the ‘Oriental region’ on the border with Algeria”. The recent arrests follow the charging of 86 people in connection with the large-scale irregular crossing of the Morocco-Spanish border into Ceuta which took place at the end of July. Separately, the families of the estimated more than 100 people who died in the incident on 30-31 July have been trying to identify and, where possible, repatriate the bodies of their loved ones.

The EU has agreed plans to establish a maritime rescue centre in eastern Libya. On 30 July, EU Ambassador to Libya Nicola Orlando announced that a maritime rescue coordination centre (MRCC) would be set up in the framework of the EU Naval Force Mediterranean Operation Irini with funding from Italy and Malta. Writing on social media, Orlanda stated that the MRCC, which was initially proposed in 2017, would “contribute to enhancing Libya’s capacity to conduct search and rescue operations at sea in accordance with international standards and human rights”. The announcement came less than two weeks after 31 NGOs published a joint statement in which they called on EU institutions and member states (MS) to “urgently end their shameful cooperation with Libyan authorities on migration control”. The statement, which was signed by ECRE and several ECRE member organisations, urged the European Commission (EC) and EU MS to “halt plans to continue or deepen cooperation with the [Libyan Arab Armed Forces] LAAF in eastern Libya, including the funding of an MRCC, given the serious risk of human rights violations and abuse”.

More than 1,100 Sudanese nationals have reportedly returned home from Egypt in the latest phase of an ongoing voluntary repatriation scheme. According to a statement issued by the Al-Amal Committee and reported in the state-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA), the returnees left Cairo on 13 August. The  convoy departed 10 days after a smaller one in which 350 Sudanese nationals were returned from Alexandria on 3 August. A total of 6,074 people have reportedly been voluntarily repatriated under the programme.

A large group of NGOs has used the third anniversary of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to call on the EU to end its border- and migration control support to Tunisia. In a joint statement issued on 16 July, the 46 human rights and humanitarian NGOs highlighted “serious concerns regarding the EU’s complicity in grave violations of international refugee law and international human rights law” and urged the EC and EU MS to ensure accountability and oversight, suspend support for migration control and operational co-operation, safeguard international protection, promote human rights and the rule of law, and deliver an EU human rights policy that upholds rights and refugee protection.

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