MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somali government has dispelled reports claiming that lawyers representing Somalia at ICJ over Indian Ocean maritime dispute with Kenya were kicked out.
In a statement, Somalia’s ambassador to EU, Ali Said Faqi has termed the reports false saying the government still has confidence in its lawyers.
The ambassador affirmed that one of the lawyers identified as Muna Sharman left for her own personal issues.
According to the envoy, Muna resigned from the work after she got a new job from the World Bank.
“Muna phoned the president and informed him that she was leaving the job and had got a new place in the World Bank. Therefore, she excused that she could no longer be part of the lawyers representing Somalia,” he said.
The ambassador commended Muna for her role in representing during the past case hearings of ICJ over the maritime dispute between Somalia and Kenya.
Mr. Faqi ruled out that Somalia will recruit new lawyers saying Somalia will be represented by the same lawyers who served the Horn of Africa nation at the ICJ.
“They claimed that (Somalia) hired new inexperienced lawyers with a cheap expense, but I can have confirmed that our representatives Paul Reichler, Prof. Philippe Sands and Alain Pellet were the same ones who represented us,” he said.
The speculation and Somali government’s response come just a few months after Kenya declared that it sacked its defense team and will recruit new lawyers.
Kenya and Somalia had a long-protracted dispute over a maritime boundary.
In 2014 Somalia sued Kenya at the International Court of Justice.
Late 2017, Somalia won its first bid to resolve a case over a maritime dispute before the ICJ.
Last week, the International Court of Justice approved a request by Kenya to delay the public hearing of its maritime boundary case with Somalia.
ICJ pushed the case to June 8, 2020, and warned that there will be no further delays.
This is the second time that Kenya has been granted a postponement request with the hearing having been pushed from October to November.
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