Friday 27 Feb 2026 {HMC} M23 rebels recaptured two villages in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province on Thursday after heavy clashes with the army and allied Wazalendo fighters, a local media outlet reported.

The villages of Kasenyi and Luke in Masisi territory fell after the rebels mounted a counteroffensive on Wednesday, a day after losing them, a local news website reported, citing security and civilian sources who said fighters were reinforced from neighbouring Rutshuru Territory.

Residents have reportedly begun fleeing toward safer areas, and no official casualty toll from the fighting was immediately available.

The surge in fighting follows the Congolese army’s announcement on Tuesday that it killed Willy Ngoma, the M23 rebel group’s military spokesperson, during operations in the eastern part of the country.

Capture of strategic towns

Ngoma was reportedly killed in a military drone strike near the mining town of Rubaya in Masisi.

The M23 rebel group has been at the centre of the conflict in eastern DR Congo.

Since the rebel group resurfaced in late 2021, it has captured several strategic towns in eastern DRC provinces, including the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu early in 2025.

Kinshasa and the UN allege that Rwanda supports the rebel group, allegations that Kigali has repeatedly denied.

Clashes intensify

Despite an Angolan-brokered ceasefire declared this month effective February 18, clashes intensified between government forces and M23 rebels in recent days in eastern DR Congo, displacing thousands of people from their homes, according to civil society groups.

SOURCE:AA

Friday 27 Feb 2026 {HMC} Pope Leo XIV’s newly announced visit to Algeria in April was welcomed as a dream come true by the archbishop of Algiers on Thursday.

The trip will mark the first time a head of the Catholic Church has visited the North African Muslim-majority country.

“This dream of a pope visiting Algeria… has come true!” Jean-Paul Vesco, the Franco-Algerian cardinal of the Catholic Church who serves as the Archbishop of Algiers, wrote in a statement.

He added that the pontiff had come to see “the Algeria of today, a meeting point between north and south, east and west, the West and the Arab-Muslim world.”

Symbolic dimension

Arabic-language newspaper El Khabar reported that the visit, which was announced by the Vatican on Tuesday, “carries a great symbolic and spiritual dimension.”

For Leo, the trip is in honour of fifth-century Saint Augustine, who was born in modern-day Algeria and whose order he follows.

Leo, who was elected in May last year, will visit the capital Algiers and the city of Annaba – where the Basilica of Saint Augustine stands – from April 13 to 15.

The 70-year-old pontiff said the trip would allow him to “continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds.”

Pope to visit three other African nations

After Algeria, the pope will visit Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

The Algerian presidency on Wednesday said the pope’s trip reflected Algeria and the Vatican’s “shared belief in the need to build a world based on peace, dialogue, and justice, against the various challenges currently facing humanity.”

SOURCE:AFP

Friday 27 Feb 2026 {HMC} A Turkish humanitarian organisation has delivered food assistance to 8,250 families across drought-affected regions of Somalia during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Turkish officials have said.

Türkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV) distributed food packages in seven states and 13 regions of the country as part of its Ramadan relief program, supported by donations from charitable contributors.

The aid packages were prepared for families facing economic hardship amid prolonged drought conditions that have worsened in recent years.

Teams made up of foundation staff and volunteers carried out the distributions in various regions, including camps in the capital Mogadishu.

Assistance events were held at the Hindere camp in the Daynile district and the Bilhayr camp in the Garapaley area, with officials meeting families after the deliveries.

Omer Faruk Arslan, religious services counsellor at the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu, said that humanitarian support remains critical as severe drought has intensified across Somalia.

“Due to the drought, there have been serious problems in access to food and water over the past two years,” Arslan said.

“With the support of our donors, we are delivering food packages to those in need in 13 regions.”

He said each family received one package and noted that the total distribution of 8,250 parcels is expected to benefit around 80,000 people, based on an average household size of 10.

EU support for Somalia

On Thursday, the European Union announced $74 million in humanitarian funding to support vulnerable communities across Somalia as the country grapples with “worsening drought, ongoing conflict, displacement and rising food prices.”

In a statement, the EU said the funding will prioritise life-saving assistance, including integrated health and nutrition services, treatment for severe and acute malnutrition, emergency cash support, water and sanitation services, protection programs, and emergency education.

Somalia is facing a sharp rise in food insecurity and malnutrition, with an estimated 6.5 million people experiencing hunger, according to the statement.

Humanitarian assessments indicate that about 1.85 million children under age five are at risk of acute malnutrition.

The EU said the assistance will be delivered through trusted humanitarian partners operating on the ground to ensure aid reaches those most affected in a timely, inclusive and effective manner.

Since 2017, the EU has provided more than $817 million in humanitarian assistance to Somalia, the statement said.

SOURCE:AA

Friday 27 Feb 2026 {HMC} Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered condolences to the friendly and brotherly people of Azerbaijan on the 34th anniversary of the Khojaly massacre.

“On the 34th anniversary of the Khojaly massacre, I commemorate our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters who were martyred with mercy and sorrow, and extend my condolences to the friendly and brotherly people of Azerbaijan,” Erdogan said in a message on the Turkish social media platform NSosyal.

His message came as Türkiye commemorated the victims of the Khojaly massacre, the mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian forces in 1992 in the town of Khojaly in the Karabakh region.

“We will never forget this inhumane massacre, whose pain we will always feel in the deepest parts of our hearts,” Erdogan added.

Khojaly massacre

Soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in Karabakh on February 26, 1992, after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks.

The town was the site of a two-hour Armenian offensive that killed 613 Azerbaijani civilians, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people, and seriously injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.

Some 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis captured during the massacre remain missing to this day, with eight families completely wiped out.

The Karabakh region was the site of mass killings and burials during the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s, when Armenian forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions, including Khojaly.

In the fall of 2020, after 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements in Karabakh from nearly 30 years of Armenian occupation.

Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh in September 2023 following an “anti-terrorist operation,” after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.

Türkiye was among the first countries to recognise the Khojaly atrocities as a massacre and has repeatedly called for justice for its victims.

SOURCE:AA