ITLOS Move To Settle Maritime Dispute Between Ghana, Ivory Coast

In less than thirty minutes, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) will settle a four-year-old maritime dispute between two West African darlings.

The ruling could predict the next phase of bilateral relations between Ghana and Ivory Coast.

The two countries have been engaged in long drawn-out and inconclusive negotiations after the Ghana started drilling oil near a maritime boundary.

Ghanaian team at ITLOS
The Francophone country has accused Ghana of encroaching on its marine borders as part of its oil exploration.

Efforts to negotiate a settlement with Cote d’Ivoire, which entailed more than 10 bilateral meetings over a five-year period, were unproductive.

The Tweneboah, Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) project developed by Tullow Oil off the coast of Ghana, was done in waters, which is at the center of the dispute.

The Africa-focused oil company reportedly lost $308 million of its market value in 2015 over concerns that the dispute could derail its projects in West Africa.

Ivory Coast's team at ITLOS
Desirous to put an end to the dispute, Ghana initiated proceedings against its neighbor at the Tribunal on September 22, 2014.

Both countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which established a regime for settling disputes concerning interpretation and application of the Convention.

Ghana consented to the Convention on June 7, 1983, and Ivory Coast ratified same on March 26, 1984.

The two parties were later to agree on the composition of the Special Chamber, which comprised of three Members of the Tribunal and two ad hoc Judges, one appointed by each of the Parties.

The Special Chamber
Ghana’s agent represented by Attorney-General Gloria Afua Akuffo argued the country had not encroached on its neighbour’s marine border in the course of its exploration activities.

She has requested the Special Chamber to declare that Ghana had a “mutually recognized, agreed and applied an equidistant-based maritime boundary in the territorial sea, EEZ and continental shelf with 200M” with its neighbor.

But Ivorian agent, who is the Oil and Energy Minister, Adama Toungara wants the Chamber to reject Ghana’s claims.

He has asked the Chamber to declare that “activities undertaken unilaterally by Ghana in Ivorian maritime area constitute a violation” of his country’s sovereign rights.

Mr Toungara has also implored the Special Chamber to invite the “Parties to carry out negotiations in order to reach agreement on the terms of the reparation due to Cote d’Ivoire.”

After the memorial and counter-memorial, which ended in February 2017, ITLOS is scheduled to deliver its ruling.

The nature of the ruling may provide a scope for further appeal by either party to the dispute or not.

But one thing is certain, that shares of Tullow oil and others which plunged by 6 percent over the matter could go up if the scale tilts in favour of Ghana.