Dividing the spoils

'Bay is Ours,' read the headline of Bangladesh's Daily Star the day after the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) released its verdict on a maritime boundary dispute – the court's first case of the kind – between Bangladesh and Burma. The Bangladeshi press had a rather optimistic interpretation of the ruling, which pertains to some 283,500 square kilometres of the Bay of Bengal. In reality the verdict was a split decision: the tribunal sided with Burma on some issues and with Bangladesh on others. But the verdict gives both countries the green light to pursue their top priority – accessing offshore oil and gas resources in the Bay of Bengal.

Burma and Bangladesh first opened negotiations over their maritime boundary in 1974. They continued talking on and off for almost 35 years, including a two decade break that only ended in 2007. The resumption of talks in the late 2000s came because both countries were anxious to settle the dispute so that each could start offshore exploration for natural gas. Tensions flared in late 2008 when an exploration ship operating under a concession granted by the Burmese government sailed into disputed waters. Bangladesh sent warships to the area, and the exploration ship returned to Burmese waters.