Somalia rejects request by Kenya to delay sea case at ICJ

Somalia brought its case to the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 2014, but the public hearing has been delayed at least three times at the request of Kenya.

News Keydmedia Online
11 February 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Government of Somalia has rejected a request by Kenya to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to postpone the maritime boundary dispute for the fourth time.

Speaking to reporters in Mogadishu, Information Minister Osman Abukar Dubbe said they will no longer accept further postponement of the maritime case hearing by the Hague-based judicial organ of the UN.

The minister said Kenya had repeatedly asked for the maritime case to be delayed, accusing Nairobi of not ready to settle the case that contributed to the diplomatic tension between the two countries.

Somalia brought its case to the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 2014, but the public hearing has been delayed at least three times at the request of Kenya.

The dispute between Kenya and Somalia is rooted in a disagreement over which direction the two countries’ border extends into the Indian Ocean.

Somalia wants the maritime boundary should continue in the same direction as the land border’s southeasterly path.

Kenya, meanwhile, insists that the border should take a roughly 45-degree turn at the shoreline and run in a latitudinal line, giving Nairobi access to a larger chunk of the sea.

Kenya and Somalia have been on the verge of a diplomatic maritime row over a disputed 62,000-square-mile (160,580-square-kilometer) oil and gas-rich area in the Indian Ocean.

KON English News Desk