HOW CAN MBORANTSUO BE INTERVIEWED WITHOUT ASKING HER A SINGLE QUESTION ABOUT THE LOST ISLANDS CASE? COMMENT PEUT-ON INTERVIEWER MBORANTSUO SANS LUI POSER UNE SEULE QUESTION SUR L’AFFAIRE DES ÎLES PERDUES ?
English version While watching this one-hour broadcast entitled "Mémoire d'une Nation" (aired in mid-October 2026 on Gabon Première), the total absence of any reference to the Mbanié, Conga, and Cocotiers islands dispute is one of the greatest paradoxes of this interview. Yet, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo was the leading figure (as the representative and co-agent of Gabon) defending Gabonese sovereignty over these territories before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. What explains why the journalist, Christian Kombila, completely evaded the subject? A very recent national and personal setback (May 2025) The ICJ verdict, delivered in May 2025, was a crushing blow for Gabon: the Court ruled in favor of Equatorial Guinea. It deemed that the famous 1974 "Bata Convention," the document upon which Mborantsuo and the Gabonese state based their entire legal argument, had no legal validity. Bringing up this issue would amount to questioning Mrs. Mbora...