Obiang asks Macron to help settle property dispute with France
Equatorial Guinea's president also proposed a three-way gas pipeline alliance with Nigeria and France.
President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and asked for Macron's personal involvement in finding a solution to a dispute over a property that has concerned both governments. Obiang said he valued Macron's willingness to find a satisfactory outcome that would spare either side humiliation or loss of dignity.
Obiang also told Macron about a planned gas pipeline between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea and proposed a three-way alliance with Nigeria and France to mobilise the financial, technical and business capacity needed. He also asked France for teaching equipment and materials for the Tika Naval School, and invited Macron to visit Equatorial Guinea.
The meeting was reported by Ahora EG and Real Equatorial Guinea, which said Obiang had met Richel Bassila, regional director for Central Africa of Sogea-Satom, in Paris a day earlier.
Why it mattersA French agreement to join the pipeline would bring Nigerian and French capital and engineering into a project that would link two Gulf of Guinea energy markets.