Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have signed an agreement on Tuesday to end a decades-long dispute over three small islands in potentially oil-rich waters, following a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in favor of Equatorial Guinea.
The dispute involved the 30-hectare island of Mbanie and two smaller islets, Cocotiers and Conga, which both countries had claimed since the early 1970s. The signing took place at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, with Equatorial Guinean Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono Angue and Gabon’s Constitutional Council head Dieudonne Aba’a Owono committing to respect the ICJ’s decision.
Esono Angue declared the matter settled, emphasizing the need to move forward, while Aba’a Owono highlighted the start of a new era of cooperation. AU Commission Chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf welcomed the resolution, stating it ended a long-standing border dispute.
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