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Somalia: ‘It’s our water, sovereignty’

By FRED OLUOCH

The Somalia government has now clarified that it is Kenya’s violations of the integrity and sovereignty of Somali water territory that forced it to file a case at the International Courts of Justice on August 28.

Somalia’s Attorney-General, Dr Ahmed Ali Dahir, argued that it is against the international law for Kenya to unilaterally sign agreements with oil and gas companies for explorations in the Somalia territorial waters.

The EastAfrican established that the decision by Somalia to file a case at the ICJ against Kenya for the violations of our territorial waters, has been prompted by the new drive within the circles of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud that the historical dispute between Kenya and Somalia land border that kicked off in 1958 has never been resolved.

But with the prospects of oil and gas deposits in the Indian Ocean, there has been a growing unease within the Somalia government since October 2011, when Kenya unilaterally embarked on military expedition in Somalia, and Nairobi’s subsequent influence in creation of the Jubbaland Interim Administration led by Sheikh Ahmed Madobe.

Omar Hassan Yarrisow, a former spokesperson for President Mohamoud —who is conversant with issues surrounding Kenya/Somalia relations—argued that the Somalia leader has been keen to engage Kenya over the pending land and maritime borders but Kenya has skipped three scheduled meeting without explanation.

Suspicious Somalia

“This strengthened the underlying suspicion that the objective of Kenya’s military presence in Southern Somalia is to control Jubbaland for the sake of potential oil and gas resources,” said Mr Yarrisow

President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Mohamoud on Wednesday in the side-lines of the UN climate summit in New York to discuss the issues, but Mogadishu had taken a position that Nairobi must acknowledge that the boundaries drawn by the colonial masters have never been discussed the two as independent entities.

Diplomatic sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intimated that Somalia has been given legal advice that the country could get more resource-rich maritime territory by opting for international legal arbitration rather a bilateral negotiations with Kenya.

The two countries have no maritime border agreement but Kenya had in 2009 signed a memorandum of understanding with the former Somalia Transitional Government to have the border mapping based on straight line, which has since been rejected by the Somalia parliament.

Kenya’s Attorney-General Prof Githu Muigai, maintained that diplomatic negotiations between Kenya and Somalia have been going on for years but now that Somalia has chosen to go to court, his office will handle the case while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will carry on with negotiations. He  has already assembled a team of international maritime lawyers to argue the Kenya case against the application by Somalia.

Prof Muigai says the MOU—that was deposited by the UN—not only described the mapping of the maritime border based a horizontal line eastwards, but also contained no objections in case either of the countries decides to apply for more territorial waters beyond the  internationally recognised 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone.

Kenya prefers the maritime border to be on a straight horizontal line into the ocean from where the land meets the sea, but Somalia maintains that the border line moves towards southeast, cutting into what Kenya believes is naturally theirs.

When contacted, Mohammed Affey, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) Special Envoy to Somalia, played down the dispute arguing that it a bilateral issue between Kenya and Somalia, but added that the regional body is willing to mediate between the two countries if called upon.
Source: The East African

 

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