Ghana/ Ivory Coast maritime boundary dispute to be judged

For the past three years, Ghana and its western neighbour Ivory Coast have engaged in legal battles over a maritime boundary where Ghana is undertaking oil exploitation.

 The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has set September 23, 2017, to deliver judgment in the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire.

Ghana says its neighbour Ivory Coast has for decades agreed that the area of dispute belongs to Ghana. However, the country changed its view shortly after the announcement of the discovery of oil in Ghana by Former President John Agyekum Kuffour. This led Ghana to seek to settle the matter at the International Tribunal for the law of the sea. The hearing of the matter began on September 3, 2014.

“The Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea constituted to deal with the Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (Ghana/Côte d'Ivoire), will deliver its Judgment at 11 a.m. on Saturday, 23 September 2017. The Judgment will be read by Judge Boualem Bouguetaia, President of the Special Chamber,” ITLOS said in a release.

Cote d’Ivoire in February 2015 filed for preliminary measures and urged the tribunal to suspend all activities in the disputed area until the definitive determination of the case, dubbed: “Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean.”

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Former Attorney General and agent at ITLOS for Ghana, Marietta Brew Oppong urged the chamber to reject the request saying, “Ghana, respectfully, asks you to affirm the customary equidistance boundary as our maritime boundary. In carrying out your task, you are assisted by a wealth of maps and charts which set out this boundary and which have been made available to you”.

She further described, "The impact of the provisional measures on Ghana will be extraordinarily serious. If the order were granted and all work had to be stopped, it would have a devastating impact on our oil production and exploration throughout a large area of maritime territory previously recognized by Cote Divoire as belonging to Ghana. There will be a massive impact on finance, employment, and development. The impact will be irreparable"

The court turned down the request by the Ivorians but proceeded to direct no further drilling be undertaken.

www.primenewsghana.com/ Ghana News