CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Gabon — Equatorial Guinea |
INTERNAT.REL.
In 1972, when President Omar Bongo had gone to Mbanié Island to raise Gabon’s flag there,
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea were on a war footing.
The recent highly publicised visit of Defence Minister Ali Bongo to the same island,
has revived memories of a thirty-year old quarrel
In February, Equatorial Guinea’s Prime Minister, Candido Muatetema Rivas, declared that if Gabon were to occupy the island, this would be illegal. By way of reply, his Gabonese counterpart, Jean François Ntoutoume Emane, described Rivas’ statement as «regrettable and inappropriate», recalling that Gabon is «doing its very best to preserve a policy of dialogue and good neighbourliness».
Relations between the two small but oil-rich countries deteriorated somewhat following Defence Minister Ali Bongo’s visit on 26 February to a police unit stationed on the island. The Equatorial Guinean Prime Minister’s intervention coincided with a meeting in Libreville between President Omar Bongo (Gabon) and a special envoy from President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The envoy brought with him a message dealing with Mbanié Island which is thought to have rich oil deposits and which is situated closer to Gabon than to Equatorial Guinea.
Mbanié Island covers some 30 hectares. It’s located about thirty kilometres off the Gabonese coast and is close to Corisco Island, another island which is larger and almost virgin territory. Corisco is a few nautical miles off Cape Estétias. Mbanié Island used to be called «Rat Island» because of the enormous colony of rats which lived there. Today, there are enormous crab colonies which share the site with fishermen. But Mbanié might be a source of untapped oil reserves — a fact which could revive the old emnity. A Mbanié resident explains: «Our island was discovered by the Spanish explorer, Manuel Iradier, who succeeded in sailing up the Rio Muni. Then came the Portuguese who were astonished by the islands’ spotlessly clean sand. Indeed, Mbanié’s sand is so white that it’s used to clean one’s teeth».
Possible crude oil reserves
The sea surrounding Mbanié Island could be covering rich oil deposits, rather like Bakassi Peninsula which has caused so much friction between Nigeria and Cameroon. A Gulf of Guinea Commission, established in 1999, should serve to prevent such friction, especially in areas where Gabon’s and Equatorial Guinea’s frontiers are not clearly defined. This was evoked in an official statement broadcast over Equatorial Guinea’s Radio, in which Mr. Candido Muatetema Rivas declared: «My government expresses its deep concern and its indignation vis-a-vis Gabon’s illegal occupation of the small island of Mbanié». He then exhorted Gabon to withdraw from the small island, «whose territorial ownership has not been clearly sorted out by Spain and France, Gabon’s and Equatorial Guinea’s former colonizers».
A Gabonese gendarme who wishes to remain anonymous, says: «Mr Ali Bongo’s visit to the island, together with the Gendarmerie’s chief-of-staff and a military detachment, has been headlined in the Media, to the extent of upsetting Equatorial Guinea which sees in this visit a kind of provocation.
Mr. Ntoutoume Emane seems to have opted for a vocal exchange when he declared: «Gabon is a sovereign state which will do its utmost to have its sovereignty respected and is ready to face up to any kind of aggression. The government reminds its own citizens and international opinion that Gabon’s presence on Mbanié Island is not just an issue for today, but dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, well before Equatorial Guinea became independent».
Rivalry and mistrust
Rivarly between the two countries, especially from the economic point of view, goes back several years. Equatorial Guinea, once considered to be the poorest country in the sub-region, has gained in confidence and pride since the discovery of oil in its territorial waters. The discovery of significant oil deposits, will, by 2005, place it third among oil-producing countries south of the Sahara, — above Gabon whose oil reserves are dwindling. Equatorial Guinea is experiencing exceptional economic development, which encouraged most of its nationals living in Gabon to return to their own country, as soon as the minimum wage was fixed at 60,000 CFA francs. The minimum wage for workers in Gabon has been pegged at less than 50,000 CFA francs ever since the 1970s.
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea share a common border. Vis à vis food production, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon supply Gabon’s markets with a considerable quantity of food necessary for its population. Indeed, for several decades, agriculture has not been a priority for Gabon’s government, even when it comes to ensuring there is enough food in the country. The on-going rivalry between these two neighbouring countries, both of them members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), is explained by Equatorial Guinea’s citizens’ determination not to budge vis à vis their claims to Mbanié Island; and especially to have their revenge. They say they been humiliated for a long time by the Gabonese who’ve consigned them to doing odd jobs (household, messengers, cooks, gardeners or drivers) for starvation wages.
Mbanié, at the centre of the present crisis, had already been the origin of a mini-crisis between the two countries in 1972. A crisis which required international mediation led by Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko, the former Zaire’s late president. Both Gabon and Equatorial Guinea had claimed sovereignty over three small islands (including Mbanié) — their ownership had never been clearly defined in an agreement signed in 1900 between France and Spain, the former colonizing powers.
Oil exploitation — decreasing and increasing
Mbanié and its surrounding area could contain a great deal of oil and that’s the reason for the row between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Gabon’s oil potential is decreasing, while Equatorial Guinea’s is increasing. For nearly thirty years, Gabon has been the stronghold of France’s TotalFinalElf (formerly-Elf Aquitaine) in central Africa. However, since 1993 there’s been a progressive decline in production which has had a negative effect on the country’s economy. On the other hand, since 1900, Equatorial Guinea has been experiencing an oil boom, spurred on by the major American oil companies.
Gabon borders on the Atlantic Ocean and is 267,670 sq.km in area. Equatorial forest covers 85% of the country. The population is estimated at 1.3 million (1994), of which 54% live in rural areas. The average population density is about 5 inhabitants per sq.km. Most people living in rural areas are women, mainly because men have migrated to the urban and oil producing areas. 60% of the working population is involved in agriculture, which, however, produces only 6.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Gabon’s economy is dominated by oil which constitutes 47% of the GDP, 60% of the budget revenue and 80% of exports. So Gabon depends on outside sources for an adequate food supply.
Oil production in Equatorial Guinea should soon reach 500,000 barrels per day — a sure sign of the country’s economic growth and a reason in itself for claiming Mbanié Island. With its new-found wealth potential, the country will be able to eliminate poverty and unfold a human development policy. Eventually, this will be achieved by creating the necessary infrastructures and a trained labour force — still sorely lacking in every sector of the nation’s economic life.