The Ambassador of Angola Sianga Abilio was the guest of honor at the Strathmore University of Nairobi which held on 22nd of December of 2021, a Lecture on the Resolution of Cross Border Conflicts in Africa.
In his speech Ambassador Sianga Abílio said that in the scope of International Relations peaceful and consensual methods are often used for conflict resolution such as Diplomatic Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration and considered the courts as the last option and with consequences that are not always beneficial to the people.
Ambassador Sianga Abílio referred to the Great Lakes region and beyond as potential conflict regions due to disputes over Natural Resources citing the examples of Mingingo Island, in Lake Victoria, between Kenya and Uganda, as a conflict zone due to fishing resources; the maritime border between Kenya and Somalia, another conflict zone due to oil resources and Lake Albert, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, which could trigger a conflict over oil resources. Continuing with examples Ambassador Sianga Abilio mentioned the Bakassi zone, between Nigeria and Cameroon, and the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan.
As an asset of Angola's Foreign Policy Ambassador Sianga Abílio presented the case between Angola and Congo-Brazzaville as a "Model" that can serve to resolve potential Border Conflicts caused by the dispute over Natural Resources which, in the case of the two countries, culminated in the creation of an "Unitisation" zone or simply a Zone of Common Interest.
It should be remembered that in 2002 Ambassador Sianga Abílio who was at the time member of the board of Sonangol led the delegation of Angolan experts who negotiated with Congo Brazzaville the dispute over the natural resources on the border between the two countries resulting in the creation of the Zone of Common Interest called the "Lianzi Field" operated by Chevron with the participation of the two countries.
The Lianzi field discovered in 2004 with estimated reserves of 70 million barrels resulted from an agreement signed between Angola and Congo-Brazzaville in 2002 with the aim of conducting joint exploration in the "Unitisation" zone.
Oil production in this field began in 2015 with an output of 36,000 barrels per day divided 50% for each country.
Participating in the discussions at the Lecture organised by Strathmore University were Students, Professors and other invited Academics.
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