The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is patting itself on the back for the favourable ruling on the four-year-old maritime dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast.
The party in a statement Saturday hours after the pronouncement that it was its “leadership role” that secured victory for the country.
“The NDC is proud to have played a leadership role in securing this legal victory and securing these important resources for the country,” the statement said.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on Saturday ruled in favour of Ghana in the four-year maritime boundary dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Ghana was first to initiate proceedings at the Tribunal in 2014 after Ivory Coast accused it of violating its sovereign right. The case was filed after efforts to negotiate a settlement with Cote d’Ivoire were unproductive.
Ghana had told the Chamber it had an oral agreement with its neighbour over the marine borders, but Ivory Coast disputed it.
The Francophone country had wanted the Chamber to declare and adjudge that Ghana’s “unilateral” exploration activities violated its sovereign right.
But after a four-year-old legal tussle, the Special Chamber said Ghana did not violate its neighbour’s sovereign right.
The Chamber said Ivory Coast did not produce a resounding argument that bilateral talks held over the matter were not meaningful.
While it congratulated judges of the Special Chamber and the legal and technical teams of both countries for bringing an end to the matter, the NDC said it has to be acknowledged for it did.
It also paid glowing tributes to late President John Evans Atta Mills and former President John Mahama for the various roles they played towards the victory.
Read the statement below:
STATEMENT ON THE RULING OF ITLOS IN THE MARITIME BORDER DELIMITATION BETWEEN GHANA AND LA COTE D’IVOIRE
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) this morning delimited the maritime border between Ghana and La Cote d’Ivoire. Substantially the court confirmed Ghana’s historical position – a legal victory for Ghana.
The NDC congratulates the judges of the Special Chamber on their comprehensive and clear analysis of the issues and on a fair ruling.
We congratulate the governments of Ghana and of La Cote d’Ivoire for seeing this dispute through peaceably and in a brotherly spirit.
We also congratulate the Ghanaian legal and technical team and their support staff of their hard and very impressive work.
The ITLOS ruling also represents a victory for pan-African collaboration, diplomacy, and international rule of law. Our two countries have managed a potentially divisive and even explosive dispute with great calm, maturity, and wisdom.
We can now put this dispute behind us and look forward to many years of continued collaboration in shipping, fishing, oil and gas and other subsea resource development between our countries.
We would be remiss if we did not pay tribute to the late President John Evans Atta Mills who foresaw the danger that a prolonged maritime border dispute posed for the development and security of our two sister countries and West Africa.
Prof Mills established the permanent Maritime Border Secretariat. He tasked the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, to resource MBS so it could attract and deploy Ghanaian expertise and develop our national strategy for resolving the dispute.
We acknowledge President Mahama’s courage in launching the ITLOS case despite concerns that this could be misinterpreted by our neighbours as a hostile act and that Ghana could lose the case at ITLOS.
President Mahama recognised that protracted bilateral negotiations posed greater danger to our bilateral relations than a swift, conclusive, impartial, and authoritative ITLOS ruling.
He resisted pressure to withdraw the case and maintained support for the ITLOS process until the judges retired to write their judgments last year.
The NDC is proud to have played a leadership role in securing this legal victory and securing these important resources for the country.
Long Live Ghana!
Long Live la Cote d’Ivoire!
Signed
Kofi Poturphy
National Chairman
Saturday, September 23, 2017