GNV News 2025 5 23

2025 5 19, the International Court of Justice（ICJ） delivered a judgment in favor of Equatorial Guinea in the long-running territorial dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon over Mbanié Island, Cocotiers Island, and Conga Island.

The roots of the issue go back to 1900, when much of Africa was under European colonial rule and France and Spain concluded the Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, Gabon became French territory and Equatorial Guinea Spanish territory, but ownership of the islands remained ambiguous. Gabon became independent in 1960 and Equatorial Guinea in 1968, yet the islands’ status was still unclear. After independence, Equatorial Guinea stationed troops on the islands, but in 1972 Gabonese forces expelled Equatorial Guinean troops from Mbanié Island, and Gabonese troops have been stationed there ever since.

In 1974, the Bata Treaty establishing the border between the two countries was concluded, but the islands were almost uninhabited and even the largest, Mbanié Island, is 0.3 square kilometers or less in size, and tensions between the two countries had subsided until the early 2000s. However, as the likelihood of oil deposits in the Gulf of Guinea increased, in 2003 Gabon asserted sovereignty under the Bata Treaty. Equatorial Guinea rejected this claim and requested submission of the treaty’s original text. In 2008 the two sides agreed, with UN mediation, to seek a peaceful resolution; in 2016 they agreed to refer the matter to the ICJ for a final decision, and in 2021 they filed the case with the International Court.

Both countries are oil producers, but output has declined in recent years, and the ruling came as both were recalibrating their oil strategies. The ICJ determined that, because Gabon could not produce the original of the Bata Treaty, that treaty had no legal effect, and, based on the Treaty of Paris, found that these islands had been under Spanish control and were transferred to Equatorial Guinea upon its independence in 1968. In response, a representative of the Gabonese government emphasized the importance of dialogue between the two countries.

Learn more about Gabon → “The ‘special’ relationship between Gabon and France”

Learn more about islands still held by European countries → “A ‘Europe’ that is not in Europe”

View Larger Map （Mbanié Island）