MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somali foreign minister, Mohamed Abdirizak Mohamud has held talks with Kenya’s ambassador to Somalia Lucas Tumbo barely a month after UN’s top court ruled overwhelmingly in Somalia’s favour in a bitter seven-year maritime dispute against its neighbour Kenya.
In a statement, Somali foreign ministry said both officials discussed with him the strengthening of bilateral relations and cooperation between the two neighboring countries and arranging a meeting of the Somalia-Kenya joint Commission for cooperation.
Last month, Foreign Ministers of Somalia and Kenya agreed, in their meeting in Mogadishu, to expedite the third session of the Joint Committee to move forward in areas of common interest, including trade, investment, security, defense, agriculture, tourism, and people-to-people relations.
On 12th October. a fifteen-judge panel of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected Kenya’s claim that there had been an agreed maritime boundary with Somalia and ruled that the maritime border should run on equidistant or on a median line as suggested by Somalia.
The ICJ ruled that contrary to Kenya’s assertations, there was never a formal agreement with Somalia regarding their maritime boundaries. Furthermore, Kenya did not consistently maintain its supposed boundary claim.
The court asked that both Somalia and Kenya accept the ruling and each other’s sovereignty.
Somalia initiated legal proceedings against Kenya at the international court in 2014 after it failed to solve the dispute after several meetings.
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