The Côte d’Ivoire government has nothing to lose if the verdict of the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) goes in favour of Ghana, Kwame Jantuah, an energy expert, has said.
According to him, the French speaking West African government has not made any investment in the disputed maritime boundary, and therefore will not lose any stock if they lose the case.
The ITLOS 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
The Judgment will be read at a public sitting. The reading of the Judgment will be broadcast live on ITLOS’s website.
In September 2014, the Government of Ghana dragged Côte d’Ivoire to ITLOS in Hamburg, Germany, after the Francophone neighbour began laying claim to some offshore oil concessions and adjoining seabed being developed and exploited by various companies, including Tullow Oil plc., within Ghana’s territory.
Ghana’s resort to ITLOS under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) followed 10 failed attempts at negotiations between the two countries. Ghana wants ITLOS to declare that it had not encroached on Ivory Coast’s territorial waters. Ghana filed its suit based on Article 287 Annex VII of the 1982 UNCLOS.
Speaking on the matter in an interview with Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on the 505 programme on Class 91.3FM on Friday, September 22, Mr Jantuah said: “For me, there are three ways this thing can go; the verdict can be in favour of Côte d’Ivoire, the verdict can be in favour of Ghana and the verdict can be in favour of both countries, in that, they will ask to negotiation and see how we can share that disputed area.
“It is possible that it will go in favour of both countries because it happened in Senegal-Guinea, it happened in South America and so it is possible. If the case goes against us, we will lose a lot, it will affect the economy greatly.”
He added: “Côte d’Ivoire has nothing to lose if the verdict goes against them because they haven’t invested in that area, they haven’t put any money there, they have no investment in there. All the investment has been made by Ghana and the partners who are in there.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
