NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 12- Police authorities say they have mobilsed anti-riot teams ahead of the UN’s top court ruling in a bitter maritime dispute between Somalia and Kenya, which will deliver a verdict with potentially far-reaching consequences for bilateral ties and energy extraction in the region.
This, police said follows reports that a section of city residents plan to celebrate and while others want to protest the outcomes of the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is to give its final word in a case filed by Mogadishu more than seven years ago.
A full bench of 15 judges led by US judge Joan Donoghue will hand down the verdict at the Peace Palace in The Hague in the afternoon.
Police say the move is aimed at averting any clashes that may emerge from the ruling.
At stake are sovereignty, undersea riches and the future of relations between two countries in one of the world’s most troubled regions.
Kenya has already lashed the ICJ as biased and announced it does not recognise the court’s binding jurisdiction.
At the heart of the dispute is the direction that the joint maritime boundary should take from the point where the land frontiers meet on the coast.
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