evidence: Tonga's land minister Lord Ma'afu suggests ceding the Minerva Reefs in return for Fiji's Lau Islands group. He told the Tonga Daily News, external, "We have a lot of our own people with Lauan ancestry and a lot of Lauans with Tongan ancestry... our history dates back a long, long time. So in good faith I will propose to Fiji's foreign minister that they can have Minerva Reef and we get Lau in return". Lord Ma'afu is named after a Tongan prince who tried to conquer Lau in the 19th century. Possession of Minerva Reefs grants rights to possibly lucrative undersea minerals. Tonga annexed the atolls in 1972 to forestall attempts by US, Australian and other prospectors to develop it. Fiji does not recognise Tonga's claim to maritime waters around the reefs, and filed a complaint with the International Seabed Authority in 2005.