Annan reopens talks on territorial dispute

The presidents of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have agreed to work out an accord on a 34-year-old dispute over three small islands in oil-rich waters off their coasts. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who initiated Monday’s talks between Gabon’s Omar Bongo and Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Geneva, congratulated the leaders on a willingness to resolve the dispute in the coming months. “They showed incredible flexibility, good will and determination to press ahead and resolve this issue in the next few months and definitely before the end of the year,” Annan told reporters after the meeting. While Gabon and Equatorial Guinea agreed in 2004 on joint oil exploration in their offshore waters, issues over control of their maritime boundaries were left unresolved. Annan and the leaders agreed that technical teams from the two countries would meet in Geneva on 15 March to discuss the border. And the UN chief said he intends to meet the leaders again in the next month, this time in Africa. The dispute centres on Mbanie, Cocotier and Conga islands in Corisco Bay, between the coasts of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The countries in 2003 appealed for the UN’s help to resolve the dispute, which stems from differing interpretations of maps of the oil-rich area dating from 1900. In 2004 the countries agreed on joint oil exploration and agreed to formal talks to once and for all settle the territorial dispute. But nothing had moved on that front until this week’s meeting. The leaders of two of West Africa’s oil-producing nations told Radio France Internationale on Tuesday they see no obstacles to a final agreement. “In reality there is no problem, just a small difference that we will, I am sure, settle,” Bongo said. His Guinean counterpart said the countries were “victims of the effects of colonization” and that the African leaders must resolve such disputes in harmony. The UN chief used the occasion to applaud peaceful conflict resolution in a region long gripped by hostilities. “It will be important for them to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and it will also be a good message for the continent – a continent wracked by conflicts and tensions – that two leaders come together and resolve their differences very, very peacefully.”