Gabon, Equatorial Guinea ink deal ending spat over oil-rich islands

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea signed an agreement on Tuesday ending a decades-long dispute over three tiny islands in potentially oil-rich waters after the top UN court backed Equatorial Guinea.

The two West African nations had been squabbling over the 30-hectare island of Mbanie and two smaller low-lying islets, Cocotiers and Conga, since the early 1970s.In May last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, which rules in disputes between states, found in favour of Equatorial Guinea. At a ceremony at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Equatorial Guinean Foreign Minister and the Gabon's head of the Constitutional Council signed the accord committing both countries to respect the ICJ's decision.