Somalia given up to February 5 to respond to Kenya’s objection in border row
Attorney-General Githu Muigai said earlier the case filed by Somalia was “baseless and lacked the relevant backing of international law on maritime issues”. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Somalia wants the maritime border to continue along the line of the land border, to the southeast diagonally and says a horizontal border would be unfair.
Kenya, however, wants the sea border to go in a straight line east, giving it more sea territory.
The row has been running for years, keeping investors away because of a lack of legal clarity over who owns potential offshore oil and gas reserves.
Somalia has been given till February 5 to respond to Kenya’s objection to a complaint filed at International Court of Justice (ICJ) over a long-running border dispute linked to lucrative oil and gas reserves in the Indian Ocean.
Kenya on October 7, 2015, raised objections over a memorandum filed by Somalia on August 28, 2014 seeking to block Kenya from assuming ownership of a large tract of the shared ocean.
The court fight seem to have scuttling an earlier deal to settle the border dispute out of court.
“By an order of October 9, 2015, the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has fixed February 5, 2016 as the time-limit within which the Federal Republic of Somalia may present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the Republic of Kenya on October 7, 2015,” the court said.
Somalia wants the maritime border to continue along the line of the land border, to the southeast diagonally and says a horizontal border would be unfair. Kenya, however, wants the sea border to go in a straight line east, giving it more sea territory.
If it goes the Somalia way, Kenya will be left with a small triangle in the Indian Ocean for mineral rights, losing at least seven oil blocks it has offered explorers.
Attorney-General Githu Muigai said earlier the case filed by Somalia was “baseless and lacked the relevant backing of international law on maritime issues”.
The row has been running for years, keeping investors away because of a lack of legal clarity over who owns potential offshore oil and gas reserves.
Kenya recently identified eight new offshore exploration blocks available for licensing, and all but one of them are located in the contested area. Somalia has said the dispute risks deterring multinational oil companies from exploring for oil and gas offshore East Africa.
An agreement reached and deposited with the Law of the Sea Commission in New York in 2011 following similar diplomatic negotiations was scuttled by Somalia’s parliament, setting the stage for the suit at the UN’s highest judicial body.
The agreement between Kenya and Somalia stated that the border would run east along the line of latitude, but Mogadishu, which has lacked an effective central government since 1991, rejected the agreement in parliament.
In 2012, Somalia accused Kenya of awarding offshore oil and gas exploration blocks illegally to multinationals Total and Eni. Kenya rejected the accusation.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
