BRUSSELS: Asylum applications filed by Syrians in the European Union dropped to their lowest in over a decade in February following the ouster of Bashar Assad, the EU’s asylum agency said Wednesday.
Data from the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) showed Syrians lodged 5,000 requests in the 27-nation bloc plus Switzerland and Norway in February, down 34 percent on the previous month.
“The latest asylum figures show how important stability in other regions is for Europe,” said Magnus Brunner, the EU’s migration commissioner.
Longtime Syrian ruler Assad was toppled by militants in December after more than a decade of civil war.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians who had sought shelter abroad have since returned home, according to the United Nations.
Overall in February, the EU’s 27 states, Switzerland and Norway received about 69,000 asylum applications, following a decreasing trend that started in October 2024, the EUAA said.
Syrians, who long accounted for the most applicants, were the third largest group, behind Venezuelans and Afghans.
France was the main recipient nation, followed by Spain, and Germany — which had been the top destination for years.
Syrians’ asylum requests in Europe drop to decade low
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Syrians’ asylum requests in Europe drop to decade low
- Asylum applications filed by Syrians in the European Union dropped to their lowest in over a decade in February following the ouster of Bashar Assad
Uganda partially restores internet after president wins 7th term
- “The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report
KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have partially restored internet services late after 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade with a landslide victory rejected by the opposition.
Users reported being able to reconnect to the internet and some internet service providers sent out a message to customers saying the regulator had ordered them to restore services excluding social media.
“We have restored internet so that businesses that rely on internet can resume work,” David Birungi, spokesperson for Airtel Uganda, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies said. He added that the state communications regulator had ordered that social media remain shut down.
The state-run Uganda Communications Commission said it had cut off internet to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The opposition, however, criticized the move saying it was to cement control over the electoral process and guarantee a win for the incumbent.
The electoral body in the East African country on Saturday declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s poll with 71.6 percent of the vote, while his rival pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine was credited with 24 percent of the vote.
A joint report from an election observer team from the African Union and other regional blocs criticized the involvement of the military in the election and the authorities’ decision to cut off internet.
“The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report.
In power since 1986 and currently Africa’s third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni’s latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.
He is widely thought to be preparing his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take over from him. Kainerugaba is currently head of the military and has expressed presidential ambitions.
Wine, who was taking on Museveni for a second time, has rejected the results of the latest vote and alleged mass fraud during the election.
Scattered opposition protests broke out late on Saturday after results were announced, according to a witness and police.
In Magere, a suburb in Kampala’s north where Wine lives, a group of youths burned tires and erected barricades in the road prompting police to respond with tear gas.
Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said the protests had been quashed and that arrests were made but said the number of those detained would be released later.
Wine’s whereabouts were unknown early on Sunday after he said in a post on X he had escaped a raid by the military on his home. People close to him said he remained at an undisclosed location in Uganda. Wine was briefly held under house arrest following the previous election in 2021.
Wine has said hundreds of his supporters were detained during the months leading up to the vote and that others have been tortured.
Government officials have denied those allegations and say those who have been detained have violated the law and will be put through due process.
