President Uhuru Kenyatta may not respect the latest ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that has worked in favor of the neighboring Somalia.
On Friday last week, Kenya made it clear that it rejected the jurisdiction of the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ), ahead of the ruling which was delivered today.
As a result, the decision to withdraw from this case implies that Kenya under the leadership of president Uhuru Kenyatta will give the ruling a wide berth and continue defending its borders 58 years after Independence.
There has been a long dispute between Kenya and Somalia with regards to the maritime border in the Indian Ocean believed to contain vast oil and gas.
“In addition to withdrawing its participation from the current case, Kenya… also joined many other members of the United Nations in withdrawing its recognition of the court’s compulsory jurisdiction,” the foreign ministry said.
The Republic of Kenya had also announced in March this year that it would boycott the International Court Of Justice (ICJ) after it refused to postpone the case further.
“The delivery of the judgement will be the culmination of a flawed judicial process that Kenya has had reservations with, and withdrawn from. As a sovereign nation, Kenya shall no longer be subjected to an international court or tribunal without its express consent.” The foreign ministry said, accusing the court of “obvious and inherent bias” in resolving the dispute.
On the three major issues raised before the 15 panel judges, this is what the court found out:
- a) “The court cannot conclude that activities carried out by Kenya in the disputed area jeopardized the reaching of the final agreement. Therefore, the court finds that Kenya has not violated its international obligations.”
- b) Court unanimously finds that there is no agreed maritime boundary between Somalia and Kenya as described by Kenya.
- c) Court unanimously decides that starting point of boundary is intersection of the straight line extending from the final permanent boundary.”
This ruling is likely to further worsen the already bad relationship between Kenya and Somalia, with the latter still having its soldiers defending the neighboring country.
At the same time, the republic of Kenya is yet to give an official statement of the ruling which was delivered on Tuesday afternoon.
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