copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2012-08-10): Malawi and Tanzania border dispute over Lake Malawi and Cote D'Ivoire: sporadic attacks make security sector reform necessary [...] Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa according to Tanzania) is Africa’s third largest water mass, covering about 20 per cent of Malawi’s total land mass, and is home to 1 000 endemic species of fish. [...] The government of Malawi maintains that, according to the 1890 Anglo-German agreement, the border between Tanzania and Malawi is the north-eastern edge of the waters of Lake Malawi. However, the country is willing to engage with Tanzania to reach an amicable resolution. The last time the issue of the lake boundary was publically disputed by Tanzania and Malawi was in 1967–1968. Although the border dispute remained largely unresolved, it has not been the subject of policy statement or great national concern on either side.
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-01): Scripture Prayers for the Mpoto, Nyasa in Tanzania.
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2013-03-07): The 29,000 square kilometer Lake Nyasa that borders Tanzania and Malawi has recently became a source of state conflict due to the discovery of its lucrative oil and gas resources. The governments of each state are fighting for the rights to begin extraction. Malawi claims sovereignty over the lake, while Tanzania claims to own half. The Tanzanian government has even threatened military action if local Malawian fishing boats continue to cross the waters. There is no border dispute among local populations. Both Tanzanian and Malawian locals have used the lake as a source of revenue and food for centuries without incident. To date there is no evidence that the local fishing communities understand this conflict or have been consulted on the future of the lake to which they are dependent on. The issues of resource extraction in Lake Nyasa echoes other regional conflicts when it comes to division of ownership, allocation of licenses, and who pays for capital investments. The local Tanzanian community bordering Lake Nyasa is no nearer to understanding what the conflict between their country and Malawi is about, nor why so much is at stake, as mediation efforts between Malawi and Tanzania are expected to begin soon. [...] Malawi claims sovereignty over the entirety of the lake that straddles the borders of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Meanwhile, Tanzania says 50 percent is part of its territory.
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-07-13): Tensions have been flaring between the United Republic of Tanzania (Tanzania) and the Republic of Malawi (Malawi) for the past few years relating to whether the boundary demarcating the respective states’ sovereign territory or territorial waters in respect Lake Malawi or Lake Nyasa as Tanzania refers to it (Lake) runs along the middle of the Lake or along the Lake’s eastern shoreline of the territory of Tanzania. [...] By virtue of the Treaty, customary international law dictates that the default legal position is that the border of Malawi runs along the north-eastern shoreline of the Lake and is, in its entirety, under the sovereign control of Malawi. The onus is on Tanzania to demonstrate that the legal position established by the Treaty was amended to reflect that the border runs along the middle of the Lake and that the shoreline boundary is accordingly incorrect.
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-07): The Tanzania mainland is bounded by Uganda, Lake Victoria, and Kenya to the north, by the Indian Ocean to the east, by Mozambique, Lake Nyasa, Malawi, and Zambia to the south and southwest, and by Lake Tanganyika, Burundi, and Rwanda to the west. [...] The East African Rift System runs in two north-south-trending branches through mainland Tanzania, leaving many narrow, deep depressions that are often filled by lakes. One branch, the Western Rift Valley, runs along the western frontier and is marked by Lakes Tanganyika and Rukwa, while the other branch, the Eastern (or Great) Rift Valley, extends through central Tanzania from the Kenyan border in the region of Lakes Eyasi, Manyara, and Natron south to Lake Nyasa at the border with Mozambique. The central plateau, covering more than a third of the country, lies between the two branches. [...] Because of its numerous lakes, approximately 22,800 square miles (59,000 square km) of Tanzania’s territory consists of inland water. Lake Victoria, which ranks as the world’s second largest freshwater lake, is not part of the Rift System. Although Tanzania has no big rivers, it forms the divide from which the three great rivers of the African continent rise—the Nile, the Congo, and the Zambezi, which flow to the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean, respectively. Separated by the central plateau, the watersheds of these rivers do not meet.
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-06-20): The dispute arose in 2012 when Malawi awarded an exploration licence to a British company, Surestream, for the possible exploitation of oil and gas reserves in Lake Malawi (known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Mozambique). The furore that erupted following this announcement resurrected a decades-old dispute between the two countries over the demarcation of their border traversing the lake. Malawi’s assertion is that it presides over the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline, as stipulated by the 1890 Heligoland Treaty; while Tanzania’s position is that in accordance with international norms and practice, the border ought to be demarcated in the centre of the lake. Tanzania proclaims that this is in fact the case with the demarcation of the Malawi-Mozambique border on Lake Malawi. A key tenet of Malawi’s counter-claim is, however, that the Portuguese rulers of pre-independent Mozambique bartered a portion of Mozambican territory in the 1950s in exchange for a piece of the lake. This, in their view reinforces the validity of the Heligoland Treaty. [...] At a bilateral level, both Malawi and Tanzania would do well to consider less absolutist solutions to the dispute. Regardless of the border demarcation, two million families from some of the most vulnerable countries in the world depend on the lake for food, shelter, water and income. A resource management solution that takes into account the sustainability of the livelihoods of these communities will ultimately be in the interest of both countries and the region as a whole.
Claim: Lake Nyasa is a territory of Tanzania (Lake Nyasa, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2012-08-22): Lake Nyasa, known as Lake Malawi by Malawians, has been the source of disagreements since colonial times, which were rekindled recently when Malawi allowed gas and oil exploration to begin around the lake's border. Rhetoric has escalated over the past few months although it seems both sides are now attempting to calm tensions. [...] Located at the junction of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, Lake Nyasa – the eighth largest in the world – contains an estimated 168,000 tonnes of fish of nearly 1000 species, and is able to provide sustenance for nearly 600,000 people. In the early 1960s, Malawi's first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, claimed that Lake Nyasa was part of Malawi referring to 1890 Heligoland Agreement between Britain and Germany which stipulated that the border between the countries lay along the Tanzanian side of the lake. This treaty was reaffirmed at the 1963 Organisation of African Unity summit where it was accepted reluctantly by Tanzania although disputes reignited in 1967-8.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2015-12-17): Equatorial Guinea profile - full overview - Published Equatorial Guinea is a small country on the west coast of Africa which struck oil in 1995 and which is now being cited as a textbook case of the resource curse - or the paradox of plenty. [...] The corruption watchdog Transparency International has put Equatorial Guinea in the top 12 of its list of most corrupt states. In 2008 the country became a candidate of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - an international project meant to promote openness about government oil revenues - but failed to qualify by an April 2010 deadline. It has since re-applied.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-22): Equatorial Guinea consists of a continental territory and five inhabited islands; it is one of the smallest countries by area and population in Africa. The mainland region was most likely predominantly inhabited by Pygmy ethnic groups prior to the migration of various Bantu-speaking ethnic groups around the second millennium BC. The island of Bioko, the largest of Equatorial Guinea’s five inhabited islands and the location of the country’s capital of Malabo, has been occupied since at least 1000 B.C. In the early 1470s, Portuguese explorers landed on Bioko Island, and Portugal soon after established control of the island and other areas of modern Equatorial Guinea. In 1778, Portugal ceded its colonial hold over present-day Equatorial Guinea to Spain in the Treaty of El Pardo. The borders of modern-day Equatorial Guinea would evolve between 1778 and 1968 as the area remained under European colonial rule. [...] Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest and least populated countries in continental Africa and is the only independent African country where Spanish is an official language. Despite a boom in oil production in the 1990s, authoritarianism, corruption, and resource mismanagement have concentrated the benefits among a small elite. These practices have perpetuated income inequality and unbalanced development, such as low public spending on education and health care. Unemployment remains problematic because the oil-dominated economy employs a small labor force dependent on skilled foreign workers. The agricultural sector, Equatorial Guinea’s main employer, continues to deteriorate because of a lack of investment and the migration of rural workers to urban areas. About two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line as of 2020.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-20): Equatorial Guinea gained independence in 1968 after 190 years of Spanish rule; it is one of the smallest countries in Africa consisting of a mainland territory and five inhabited islands. The capital of Malabo is located on the island of Bioko, approximately 25 km from the Cameroonian coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. Between 1968 and 1979, autocratic President Francisco MACIAS NGUEMA virtually destroyed all of the country's political, economic, and social institutions before being deposed by his nephew Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO in a coup. President OBIANG has ruled since October 1979. He has been elected several times since 1996, and was most recently reelected in 2016. Although nominally a constitutional democracy since 1991, presidential and legislative elections since 1996 have generally been labeled as flawed. The president exerts almost total control over the political system and has placed legal and bureaucratic barriers that hinder political opposition. Equatorial Guinea experienced rapid economic growth in the early years of the 21st century due to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves in 1996. Production peaked in late 2004 and has slowly declined since, although aggressive searches for new oil fields continue. [...] Disputes - international in 2002, ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but a dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River and imprecisely defined maritime coordinates in the ICJ decision delayed final delimitation; UN urged Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane and lesser islands and to create a maritime boundary in the hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-11-26): 179- Land and Maritime Delimitation and Sovereignty over Islands (Gabon/Equatorial Guinea) On March 05th 2021, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) a compromise signed by the two States on November 15th 2016 and entered into force in March 2020. The Court is requested "to determine whether the legal titles, treaties and international conventions invoked by the Parties have the force of law in the relations between the Gabonese Republic and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea in so far as they concern the delimitation of their common maritime and land boundaries and sovereignty over the islands of Mbanié/Mbañe, Cocotiers/Cocoteros and Conga". Both countries recognise as applicable to the dispute "the special Convention on the delimitation of French and Spanish possessions in West Africa, on the coasts of the Sahara and the Gulf of Guinea, signed in Paris on June 27th, 1900″. Gabon also recognise as applicable to the dispute " the Convention demarcating the land and maritime frontiers of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, signed in Bata on September 12th, 1974".
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-12-23): Subdivisions of Equatorial Guinea [...] Regions [edit]Equatorial Guinea is divided into a continental region known as Río Muni, and an insular region comprising Bioko, Annobón, Corisco, Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico, Mbañe , Conga, Leva, Cocotero and other smaller islets.[1][2] The islets of Mbañe, Conga, and Cocotero are subject to a territorial dispute with Gabon, pending resolution at the International Court of Justice.[3][4] [...] - ^ Entidades Locales Menores en la República de Guinea Ecuatorial [Minor local entities in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea] (PDF) (Law 6) (in Spanish). 15 November 2012. pp. 4, 18.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Equatorial Guinea and Gabon face off at the ICJ over oil-rich islands of Mbanié, Cocotier and Conga [...] Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are currently presenting their case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to resolve a five-decade territorial dispute over three oil-rich islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Following hearings of Malabo, Libreville presented its arguments on October 2, focusing on a 1974 convention signed in Bata which Gabon claims. The central Africa country confirms its sovereignty over the islands of Mbanié, Cocotier, and Conga.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-04-23): Equatorial Guinea and Gabon have a long-standing maritime and territorial dispute over the ownership of three islands Mbanie/Mbane, Cocotiers/Cocoteros, and Congas. The dispute has been simmering since 1972 when there was a small military skirmish on the island of Mbanie/Mbane. It remained in obscurity until the hydrocarbon fields were discovered in the surrounding waters. In 2004, the leaders of both States jointly pledged before the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to negotiate a joint development zone in order to exploit the oil reserves. In 2004, the Secretary-Generalinitialized mediation through his special representative, but it had to be suspended in 2010 because of the souring relationship between the new Gabonese government and Equatorial Guinea. In 2011, at the invitation of the new UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the negotiations were restarted, with the aim of finding a mutually acceptable solution of the border dispute between the two parties for submission to the International Court of Justice. In 2016, these mediation efforts were successfully concluded. [...] If for this or any other reason, the 1974 Convention is considered to be valid on the basis of counter-evidence that Gabon may present, then Equatorial Guinea might be considered bound by its provisions other than Art 4 (which stipulates that it is to be finalized on a later date). In that case, the matters concerning the boundary in river Muni, the land boundary terminus, the sovereignty over islands Mbanie/Mbane, Ccoctiers/Cocoteros, and Conga, and the allocation of territorial patches along the boundary will be seen as settled.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-05-17): Land and Maritime Delimitation and Sovereignty over Islands (Gabon/Equatorial Guinea) [...] The Case of the "Land and Maritime Delimitation and Sovereignty over Islands (Gabon/Equatorial Guinea)" refers to an ongoing territorial dispute over the common land and maritime frontiers between the two States and the sovereignty over the islands of Mbanié/Mbane, Cocotiers/Cocoteros, and Conga. [...] Mabire JC (1989) Elobey Grande, un différend frontalier fanco-espagnol. Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez 25:517–526
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-27): [edit]In 1778, Queen Maria I of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain signed the Treaty of El Pardo which ceded Bioko, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the Bight of Biafra between the Niger and Ogoue rivers to Spain in exchange for large areas in South America that are now Western Brazil. Brigadier Felipe José, Count of Arjelejos formally took possession of Bioko from Portugal on 21 October 1778. After sailing for Annobón to take possession, the Count died of disease caught on Bioko and the fever-ridden crew mutinied. The crew landed on São Tomé instead where they were imprisoned by the Portuguese authorities after having lost over 80% of their men to sickness.[28] As a result of this disaster, Spain was thereafter hesitant to invest heavily in its new possession. However, despite the setback Spaniards began to use the island as a base for slave trading on the nearby mainland. Between 1778 and 1810, the territory of what became Equatorial Guinea was administered by the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, based in Buenos Aires.[29]
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-02-24): As observed on the physical map above, Equatorial Guinea in west-central Africa has two distinct regions, a mainland region, and an insular region. The country has a total land area of 28,051 sq. km. The mainland of Equatorial Guinea begins on a narrow coastal plain, edged by mangrove swamps. From there, the land rises into an elevated plateau of thickly forested hills to its border with Gabon, reaching (in a few places) upwards of 1,219 m above sea level. [...] Located in Central Africa, Equatorial Guinea has two parts, a mainland region and an insular region. The latter comprises of the islands of Bioko (that hosts the country's capital of Malabo) and Annobón in the Gulf of Guinea. Between these two islands is the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe. Mainland Equatorial Guinea or Río Muni is bordered by Gabon to the east and south, Cameroon to the north, and a coastline on the Gulf of Guinea.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Equatorial Guinea, country located on the west coast of Africa. It consists of Río Muni (also known as Continental Equatorial Guinea), on the continent, and five islands (known collectively as insular Equatorial Guinea): Bioko (formerly Fernando Po), Corisco, Great Elobey (Elobey Grande), Little Elobey (Elobey Chico), and Annobón (Pagalu). Bata is the administrative capital of the mainland. Formerly a colony of Spain with the name Spanish Guinea, the country achieved its independence on October 12, 1968. The capital is Malabo, on Bioko. Continental Equatorial Guinea is a roughly rectangular territory bounded by Cameroon to the north and Gabon to the east and south. Near the coast are the small islands of Corisco and Great and Little Elobey. Bioko, by far the largest of the islands, lies off the coast of Cameroon in the Bight of Biafra. Annobón, a volcanic island, lies south of the Equator and almost 400 miles (640 km) to the southwest of Bioko. [...] Annobón is an isolated fragment of the country, about 93 miles (150 km) southwest of the island of São Tomé in Sao Tome and Principe and about 400 miles (650 km) southwest of Bioko. Like the latter, it is a volcanic island but is less elevated, consisting of a conglomeration of cones, including Mount Santa Mina and Mount Quioveo. The highest elevation is about 2,200 feet (670 metres). The small, rugged island is not quite 4 miles (6 km) long by 2 miles (3 km) wide.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-04-11): Equatorial Guinea country profile - Published Equatorial Guinea is a small country on the west coast of Africa which struck oil in 1995, and which since has been cited as a textbook case of the resource curse - or the paradox of plenty. [...] REPUBLIC OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA: FACTS
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-01): Gabon and Equatorial Guinea faced off Monday at the International Court of Justice, hoping to resolve a decades-old scrap over the sovereignty of three disputed islands in potentially oil-rich waters. The two West African nations have been squabbling over the 30-hectare (74-acre) island of Mbanie and two smaller low-lying islets, Cocotier and Conga, since the early 1970s. [...] Gabon argues that a later treaty signed in 1974 -- the Bata Convention -- gives it sovereignty over the islands.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-03): The tiny island of Mbanié, located off Gabon’s coast, has become the focal point of a legal dispute between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, currently being adjudicated at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Both countries claim ownership of the 74-acre island and its smaller islets, believed to harbor significant oil resources. Equatorial Guinea urged the court’s judges to dismiss Gabon’s claims, arguing its position is supported by a 1900 border treaty with Spain. Meanwhile, Gabon cites the 1974 Bata Convention to back its own claim. Represented by teams of legal experts, both nations are contesting which legal documents should guide the court’s decision. The dispute dates back to the early 1970s when Gabon asserted military control over the island after a military confrontation. Following years of UN mediation, both countries agreed in 2016 to let the ICJ resolve the matter, with a binding ruling expected next year.
Claim: Mbañie Island is a territory of Equatorial Guinea (Mbañie Island, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-02-08): The Mbanié Island Dispute 8 February, 20222434 VIEWS [...] Corisco Bay is a small bay on the border of two states: Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Three islands, Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico, have long been under the control of Spain, and more recently of the independent republic of Equatorial Guinea. Further South, a tiny sand island called Mbanié is closer to Gabon than to Equatorial Guinea. Gabon claims sovereignty on the basis of proximity of the mainland, while Equatorial Guinea claims it is part of a larger group of islands that are under its own sovereignty. While of little value itself, the island is of great importance in the delimitation of territorial waters in an area that is very rich in mineral resources, particularly oil. This is the source of continual tension between the two states. As of today, Gabon administers Mbanié and maintains a military presence on the island. More on Mbanié Island