Cote D’ Ivoire on Thursday, February 9, protested what it describes as a threat from Ghana’s legal team to the President of the Special Chamber during its submission at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Germany.
Cote D’ Ivoire is seeking to punch more holes in Ghana’s argument in the ongoing Maritime boundary case as it concludes its oral submission today, February 10. Ghana had already made its oral submission at the ten- day hearing, asking that the case be dismissed.
Arguments
Making a case for Ghana, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo noted that the fairness and goodness of equidistance as a method of delimitation, in the circumstances of the case, made it understandable why the two countries adopted it as a basis for their customary boundary.
“It is impossible to think of a fairer position. Does a fairly drawn agreed line suddenly become unfair simply because one state decides that it will be economically more advantageous for it if the line were drawn somewhere else?” the Attorney-General asked.
She noted that Cote d’Ivoire had still not provided any valid reason to justify a departure from the existing and agreed maritime boundary between it and Ghana.
She said in all the negotiations before the commencement of the case, Cote d’Ivoire did not present, and had still not presented, any reasonable grounds for departing from that shared understanding which had been in existence for five decades.
The Attorney-General noted that Cote d’Ivoire only laid claim to Ghana’s boundary after Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities.
She told the tribunal that Ghana’s oil industry had contributed significantly to reducing poverty levels among its population.
