United Nations Court supports Guinea on the island of oil-rich water in Gabon dispute

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United Nations Court supports Guinea on the island of oil-rich water in Gabon dispute

The top UN court stands in succession with Gabon on three islands in potential oil-rich waters with Equatorial Guinea.

Two Central African countries have been arguing about Conga, Mbanié and Cocoteros since the early 1970s.

These islands are actually uninhabited, but are considered to contain a large number of oil deposits at sea.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Equatorial Guinea's claim – a treaty based on the 1900 French and Spanish colonial assets – should be respected.

The court rejected Gabon’s core argument – a recent latest treaty, the 1974 Bata Convention, put the island’s sovereignty in its favor.

In the last binding ruling, Conga, Mbani and Kakotros were held by Spain and then transferred to their former colonial Equatorial Guinea in 1968.

[BBC]

Now, Gabon will have to evacuate its soldiers from the largest island of Mbanié.

In 1972, Gabonese troops drove the Equatoguinean troops from Mbanié and established their own military presence there.

Hostiles cooled until the early 2000s, when the oil prospects in the Gulf of Guinea were obvious.

In 2016, after years of mediation by the United Nations, the two countries agreed to let the ICJ resolve the matter.

A spokesman for the Gabonese presidency said that according to the ruling, these countries will now be relied on for negotiations.

“Gabon and Equatorial Guinea must live side by side, we cannot move away from each other. So we will have to talk to solve all these problems.”

Both countries are important oil producers. However, their oil production has declined in recent years due to insufficient investment, insufficient exploration activities and aging wells.