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Annan to Join Gabon, Equatorial Guinea Talks
 Equatorial Guinea News 10/01/2006
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will meet with the presidents of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next week to try to resolve a dispute between the two nations over control of several islands in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.

The talks between Gabon's President Omar Bongo and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea will take place Oct. 2-4 in Geneva, said Marie Heuze, director of the U.N. information service in Geneva.

The U.N. secretary-general also invited President Jacques Chirac of France and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain to participate in the discussions, she said.

The leaders of the two sub-Saharan countries agreed in February to try to resolve their territorial dispute by the end of the year.

The dispute centers on the islands of Mbanie, Cocotiers and Congas, situated in the Gulf of Guinea just north of Gabon's capital, Libreville, and near the border with Equatorial Guinea.

The dispute arose in 1972 when Gabon occupied the three small and virtually uninhabited islands, preventing oil companies from fully exploring an area thought to have large hydrocarbon reserves.

Equatorial Guinea is currently sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer, just ahead of Gabon in fourth place.