from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – THE dispute between Kenya and Somalia over maritime territory will be back in the courts later this month.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will preside over the hearing on March 15 at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, the seat of the court.
In view of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the hearings over the so-called Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean will be held in hybrid format.
Somalia instituted proceedings against Kenya before the ICJ in 2014.
Somalia contends that both East African countries disagree about the location of the maritime boundary in the area where their maritime entitlements overlap.
It contends that diplomatic negotiations have failed to resolve this disagreement.
Relations between Kenya and Somalia have been downhill since the maritime dispute.
Things came to a head in 2019 when Kenya summoned its ambassador to Somalia back home and expelled Somalia’s top envoy after the Somali government’s decision to auction oil and gas exploration blocks at the centre of the two countries’ maritime territorial dispute.
The same year, Somalia lodged a protest to the Kenyan government for recognizing the self-proclaimed Somaliland as a country.
ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).
It was established by the UN Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946.
– CAJ News