Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation Measures for Marine Turtles of the Atlantic Coast of Africa Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Portugal (Azores, Madeira), São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain (Canary Islands), Togo and United Kingdom). As of May 2013, 23 range States have signed the MoU. Marine turtles are thought to be numerous along much of the Atlantic Coast of Africa. The area includes nesting sites, feeding areas and migration corridors of importance to six species of marine turtles. To protect these species an Article IV agreement was concluded and came into effect
West Africa it between France and Britain following First World War due to the Treaty of Versailles. Only Liberia retained its independence, at the price of major territorial concessions. Following World War II, nationalist movements arose across West Africa. In 1957, Ghana, under Kwame Nkrumah, became the first sub-Saharan colony to achieve its independence, followed the next year by France's colonies (Guinea in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré); by 1974, West Africa's nations were entirely autonomous. Since independence, many West African nations have been submerged under political instability, with notable civil wars in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and