France on Saturday announced a “historic” accord with New Caledonia in which the overseas territory, rocked by deadly separatist violence last year, would remain French but be declared a new state.

President Emmanuel Macron had called for talks to break a deadlock between forces loyal to France and those wanting independence, asking New Caledonian elected officials, as well as political, economic and civil society leaders to gather near Paris to hammer out a constitutional framework for the territory.

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The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has begun the first steps towards disarmament, closing a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

A small ceremony was held on Friday in Sulaimaniyah in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, where 20 to 30 PKK fighters were destroying their weapons rather than surrendering them to any government or authority. The symbolic process was conducted under tight security and is expected to unfold throughout the summer.

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Nigeria’s military has “neutralised” 24 Boko Haram terrorists in coordinated operations in the West African country’s northeast, an army statement said on Thursday.

Nigerian troops backed by air support and local forces eliminated several Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists in northeastern operations between July 4 and 9, the army wrote on X.

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Somaliland’s Information Minister, Ahmed Yasin Sheikh Ali, on Tuesday accused Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of planning to deploy federal troops to Sanaag region, alleging an attempt to destabilize a peaceful area as Al-Shabaab militants make territorial gains elsewhere.

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Fresh fighting between rival Chin resistance groups in Myanmar’s Falam Township has reignited instability along the porous India-Myanmar border, sparking a wave of refugee inflows into India’s north-eastern state of Mizoram and escalating regional security concerns.

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