NAIROBI [The Star] – Kenya has said it has withdrawn compulsory jurisdiction from the International Court of Justice and will not recognize the judgement in the ongoing Maritime case pitting it against Somalia, Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau has said.
Kamau told reporters on Friday that the Kenyan Government won’t recognize the judgement and abide by its findings that are set to emerge from the court on Tuesday next week.
Kenya and Somalia have engaged in a protracted legal tussle at the ICJ over a piece of land off the shore of Kenya.
The contestation is on which country owns it.
But Kamau said the court lacks jurisdiction to determine the dispute.
Kamau complains that the court has been manifestly biased and hence unsuitable to resolve the conflict.
Kamau said the government believes the conflict ought to have been resolved through amicable negotiation.
He said the case was an attempt by Somalia to infringe on the country’s territorial integrity an attempt that started in 1969.
He was flanked by Vice Chief of Defence Forces Ogola, Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto and Defense PS Ibrahim Mohamed.
The ruling is expected to end the seven-year maritime case that Somalia filed at the ICJ in 2014.
The row is over the ownership of more than 100,000 square kilometres of Indian Ocean waters.
Somalia claims its maritime boundary should run in the same direction as the southeasterly path of the country’s land border, while Kenya argues the border should take a 45-degree turn at the shoreline and run in a latitudinal line.
This gives it access to a larger share of the maritime area.
Kenya, however, withdrew from the ICJ case in March this year on account of procedural unfairness at the court, betrayal and external interference, among other reasons, according to the Foreign Affairs ministry.
This was after concerted efforts for the matter to be solved through negotiations collapsed.
While Kenya opts for negotiations, Somalia has supported the ICJ route.
