Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have agreed on a joint mechanism to implement a 2025 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling concerning their long-running territorial dispute in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Joint Engagement Agreement was signed on July 28 in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the 49th ordinary session of the African Union Executive Council. It was signed by Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Simeón Oyono Esono Angue and Gabon’s Constitutional Court President Dieudonné Aba’a Owono under the auspices of the African Union Commission.
The agreement concerns the islets of Mbanié, Cocotiers and Conga, which have been at the center of a territorial dispute between the two countries for decades. The islands are uninhabited, but the surrounding maritime area has potential significance because of possible oil resources in the seabed.
The ICJ ruled on May 19, 2025, in a case concerning the delimitation of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea’s land and maritime boundaries and sovereignty over the three islands. The Court rejected the legal force of the 1974 Bata Convention invoked by Gabon and identified the relevant legal titles inherited from the former French and Spanish colonial administrations.
The new agreement does not replace the ICJ judgment. Instead, it establishes a framework for the two governments to implement the ruling and continue cooperation over their shared border and maritime areas. According to the African Union, the agreement formalizes the two countries’ decision to accept the Court’s judgment and provides a structured framework for dialogue and good-neighborly relations.
A joint technical body is expected to play a central role in the next stage of implementation. The mechanism will be tasked with translating the political agreement into practical arrangements concerning the affected territory and maritime boundary. The settlement removes a longstanding source of tension from relations between Libreville and Malabo and creates a framework for further negotiations on maritime delimitation.
The African Union welcomed the agreement as a step toward the peaceful settlement of the dispute and stronger cooperation between the two Central African neighbors.
