UN court backs Equatorial Guinea in disputed islands case with Gabon

Judges at the head U.N. court sided with Equatorial Guinea in a dispute with neighboring Gabon over which treaty settled the possession of three largely uninhabited oil-rich islands.

The determination successfully hands the islands to Equatorial Guinea.

The countries brought their dispute to The International Court of Justice in 2021, asking judges to determine what compatible settlement settles the possession of the oil-rich islands.

The 15-resolve panel found a 1900 treaty between Spain and France, which divided up colonial holdings, to be the closing authority.

A later settlement, identified because the 1974 Bata Convention, which provides the islands to Gabon, was once brushed aside as “now no longer a treaty having the force of legislation,” Deem Julia Sebutinde acknowledged.

The doc was once contested by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon did no longer make an original reproduction for the court.

Equatorial Guinea had administration of the territory till 1972, when Gabon took over the finest island, Mbanie, in a protection force skirmish. When oil was once found in coastal waters, the dispute reignited.

The economies of each and each countries are extremely dependent on oil, nonetheless production from existing areas has been in decline in recent years.

The countries requested the court to resolve the possession question after time and again failing in efforts to find a diplomatic solution.

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