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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Somalia’s breakaway province of Somaliland is commemorating the anniversary of its unilateral declaration of independence on May 18, 1991 — even though its claims of sovereignty have remained unrecognized by the international community.

Amid the preparations, Somaliland’s authorities have been preparing to conclude a controversial deal with neighboring Ethiopia.

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Pro-Russia rebels in a separatist part of Moldova are preparing to ask Vladimir Putin to annex their region amid warnings that an emboldened Kremlin is trying to destabilise Europe.

Gennady Chorba, a politician in Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, has said the rebel government will submit its request to the Kremlin on Wednesday during a special congress that last met in 2006.

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The president of Armenia’s self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Samvel Shahramanyan, has signed a decree to dissolve all state institutions from January 1, 2024, Karabakh Armenian authorities said on Thursday.

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At least 24 people have been killed and 53 wounded amid heavy fighting in the Somali city of Las Anod, after local clan elders declared their intention to cut ties with the breakaway republic of Somaliland and rejoin Somalia.

In a second day of violence, local elders said on Tuesday that electricity and water in the city had been cut off, and a health centre had been attacked with mortars.

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