Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Maritime Boundary Dispute: The Genesis - Part 2

In this second installment of his exclusive series for Offshore Africa Magazine, Mr. Lawrence Apaalse recounts Ghana's pivotal role during the 2009 ECOWAS Experts and Ministerial meetings in Abuja and Accra.

- Lawrence Apaalse, Immediate Past Chief Director, Ministry of Energy, Ghana

These events helped shape regional consensus on submissions to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and laid critical groundwork for Ghana's successful maritime boundary case at ITLOS. With firsthand detail, Mr. Apaalse offers an inside look at the tense diplomacy, legal positioning, and regional coordination that strengthened Ghana's claim.

The Experts and Ministerial Meetings of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja and the subsequent Elking Meeting in Accra as mentioned in the first episode, deserve special attention in the evolution of the Ghana-Cote d'Ivoire maritime boundary dispute.

It was the 9th of February 2009 when nine ECOWAS member States of Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Nigeria met in Abuja to decide on practical measures to be taken to respect the deadline of 13th May 2009 set by a decision of the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties (SPLOS/73) to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for the submission of Preliminary Information/submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

Ghana was represented at the Ministerial level by Solomon Korbieh of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration while I attended as expert. This was my first official opportunity to represent and take decisions that will have serious consequences on my country. The meeting was so hectic that it was only when the lights went off and brought proceedings to an abrupt end, and delegates began using their mobile phones torches to find their ways out of the conference hall that I realised the time was 2am.