Kenya fails ICJ request to adjourn maritime case 4th time

The Somali government has submitted its dispute with Kenya over their sea border to ICJ on August 28, 2014, after the two countries failed in diplomatic means to solve the case out of court.

News Keydmedia Online
13 February 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has rejected Kenya's request to adjourn for a fourth time in a row its maritime boundary dispute with Somalia that has been ongoing since 2014.

In a statement released on Saturday, the judicial organ of the United Nations [UN] based in the Hague announced that it has agreed with Somalia to maintain the hearings as scheduled on 15 March 2021.

In addition, the ICJ asked Kenya and Somalia to send their list of individuals who will present the oral arguments on behalf of the two sides disputing over 62,000 square miles oil-rich in the Indian Ocean.

The outgoing Somali deputy PM Mahdi Guled speaking to the state media said the country welcomed the ICJ's decision, saying they are prepared to face Kenya at the hearing of the sea border dispute case.

The Somali government has submitted its dispute with Kenya over their sea border to ICJ on August 28, 2014, after the two countries failed in diplomatic means to solve the case out of court.

The disputed Indian ocean territory which stretches for more than 100,000 sq km is available with significant reserves of oil and gas.

Somalia wants the maritime border to run along the line of the land border to the south-east whilst Kenya wants it determined by a parallel line of latitude to the east.

The tiff has escalated since the International Conference on Somali Oil and Gas and at the African Oil and Power Conference in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2019.

 The outgoing Somali Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Abdirashid Ahmed declared the licensing bid round in respect of 15 blocks open for business despite ongoing border dispute.

KON English News Desk