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The Government of Ghana has formally notified the Government of Togo of its decision to submit the maritime boundary dispute between the two countries to international arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In a press statement issued on Friday, February 20, 2026, by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Spokesperson to the President and Minister for Government Communications, the Office of the Presidency indicated that the move follows eight years of negotiations that have failed to produce an agreed outcome.
According to the statement, Ghana has taken the step to avoid further escalation of incidents that have created tensions between institutions in both countries.
The government said it aims to promote an amicable resolution to the dispute while safeguarding the longstanding cordial relations between Accra and Lomé.
Ghana’s decision marks a significant development in efforts to resolve the long-standing maritime boundary issue between the two West African neighbours through internationally recognised legal mechanisms.
This is the second time Ghana has referred a maritime boundary dispute under UNCLOS.
In September 2014, Ghana referred a similar dispute with Côte d’Ivoire to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
Côte d’Ivoire staked a claim to parts of Ghana’s offshore territory a year after Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities in June 2007.
Following 10 failed bilateral talks in 2014, Ghana turned to the Special Chamber of ITLOS under the rules set out by UNCLOS to protect its interests and those of oil companies that had invested millions of dollars in the exploration of oil in some of the disputed areas.
In September 2017, Ghana emerged victorious in the case, a ruling that had positive implications for the country’s oil and gas industry and broader development.
The Special Chamber of ITLOS unanimously declared that Ghana had not violated Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights through its oil exploration activities.
It also held that Ghana was not financially obligated to Côte d’Ivoire in respect of those activities to give rise to any issue of reparation (compensation).
The tribunal further rejected Côte d’Ivoire’s claim that Ghana had disobeyed its April 25, 2015 preliminary orders, which directed that no new wells should be drilled in the disputed area.
Additionally, it dismissed claims that Ghana had violated Article 83 of UNCLOS or infringed upon Côte d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights.
Article 83 of UNCLOS (1982) concerns agreements between states with opposite or adjacent coasts on the delimitation of maritime boundaries in accordance with international law to achieve an equitable solution.
The Special Chamber held that it had jurisdiction to delimit the maritime boundary between the parties in the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and on the continental shelf, both within and beyond 200 nautical miles.
It found that there was no tacit agreement between the parties regarding the delimitation of their territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf within and beyond 200 nautical miles.
The Chamber, therefore, rejected Ghana’s claim that Côte d’Ivoire was estopped from objecting to the customary equidistance boundary but ultimately adopted Ghana’s argument for the equidistance method in drawing a new and binding maritime boundary between the two countries.
Source: 3news
