Nairobi (Halbeeg News) – Kenya government has threatened to defy next month’s judgment on the Indian Ocean boundary dispute with Somalia ahead of the D-day to announce the decision of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the fate of the maritime dispute case between Somalia and Kenya.
According to Kenyan official who spoke to Nairobi based Nation Africa, the East African nation vowed not to accept what it considers “an illegitimate process” by an international entity.
“We are proceeding on the assumption that the verdict will be adverse. The manner in which the court conducted itself when dealing with Kenya, including rejecting a string of merited applications, is a key pointer,” a senior Kenyan official told Nation yesterday.
He further said a lot is being done, including security-wise. It’s a matter with huge national security implications. A nation must guarantee the security and well being of its people.”
The court verdict is final and not subject to appeal.
Both Somalia and Kenya are contesting ownership of a triangular territory measuring 100,000km2 in the Indian Ocean boundary.
Somalia went to court in 2014 following what it termed as failure to settle the matter with her neighbour, Kenya bilaterally.
Somalia’s argument is based on the use of the equidistance principle as the method of determining states’ maritime boundaries.
Accordingly, Somalia argues, in the territorial sea, the boundary should be a median line since there are no special circumstances that would justify departure from such a line.
With regard to the EEZ and continental shelf, Somalia contends, the boundary should be established according to the three-step process that the court has consistently employed in its application of Articles 74 and 83.
But Kenya’s case is that a boundary along the parallel of latitude has developed through the consent of Somalia since 1979.
Since Somalia never protested for that long, Kenya contends that a boundary was established by a tacit agreement between the two states.
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