These three small uninhabited islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Ten nautical miles from Gabon and a little more from Equatorial Guinea are at the center of a territorial conflict that has pitted these two States against each other for half a century. From September 30 to October 4, Libreville and Malabo appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, to claim sovereignty over Mbanié, Cocotiers and Conga. The question does not refer to the thirty hectares of these islets, but to their oil potential.
Since 1972, a dozen Gabonese police officers have occupied the island of Mbanié. TO ” assault » from Gabon, according to lawyers from Equatorial Guinea. The Gabonese State, for its part, alleges the existence of a title of sovereignty over the three islets: a “ convention » signed on September 12, 1974 in Bata, Equatorial Guinea. If the judges validate the document, then, Libreville claims, all territorial problems would be resolved. But for Malabo, which claims to have inherited these islands after the departure of the Spanish colonist, this “ called convention “it’s just” a piece of paper “.
On the first day of debates before the Court, on September 30, Equatorial Guinea’s lawyers worked to sow doubts. Does the document really exist? Is it fake? Gabon never produced the original, which it does not own. He provided “ photocopies “, “ in illegible parts », criticizes one of Malabo’s lawyers, Philippe Sands, adding that the text was never ratified by the Gabonese Parliament and was never published in the official gazette.
“ Against all odds, Equatorial Guinea questions the very existence of this convention, although it barely refrains from accusing Gabon of having forged a false », protested Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, honorary president of the Court of Cassation of Gabon, during the hearing on October 2. Gabon relies in particular on a letter that former president Omar Bongo sent to the French ambassador in Libreville at the end of October 1974, as well as a television report from the time. We see the two heads of state, Albert-Bernard Bongo (Omar Bongo) and Francisco Macias, in a room, in front of documents. “ everything is fixed », Omar Bongo would have said.
Problem: for Equatorial Guinea, the “ piece of paper » has no value. Once signed, the document remained in limbo. What happened between 1974 and 2003, the year in which the document reappeared in the French archives? “ For 10,477 days, total silence », says Philippe Sands. The Gabonese side claims to have chosen to be discreet so as not to aggravate the conflict. Because despite the existence of a convention, according to Libreville, “ had not been well received by some Equatoguinean leaders,” —answers Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo.
“A dispute left by the colonial powers”
Lawyers from Equatorial Guinea investigated the French diplomatic archives in La Courneuve (Seine Saint-Denis). In a “ news dispatch “, which he addressed to the Quai d’Orsay, the French ambassador in Malabo wrote, on October 2, 1974, that ” nothing has been definitively signed “The councils of Gabon also wanted to explore the Spanish archives – Equatorial Guinea was colonized by Spain – but they did not “he didn’t want to let us search completely”says one of them, Alain Pellet. However, Libreville recorded the “ convention » at the United Nations in February 2004, “ 29 years late », emphasizes Philippe Sands.
This whole thing is based on “ a dispute bequeathed by colonial powers », says Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo. Therefore, we must go back through the centuries. The island of Corisco, near Mbanié, fell under Spanish rule in 1843. The act of annexation “ It was composed on a boat, according to the tradition of the Spanish conquistadors “says Alina Miron, a lawyer from Gabon, who questions the title, which France, then a colonial power, would not have recognized. In the early 2000s, a long cycle of mediation began under the auspices of the UN. The two countries end up agreeing to a compromise at the end of winter 2021.
Although Equatorial Guinea sent its Minister of Hydrocarbons and Mining Development to The Hague, “ “oil is not a central issue,” says one of the participants after the hearing. If Mbanié falls under the sovereignty of Equatorial Guinea, this will limit Gabon’s access to the sea. The decision of the judges, who have begun their deliberations, will be known in the coming months. Until then”, The oil companies are there, they smell, they wait. “said this same participant.
