NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 14 – The ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Kenya-Somalia maritime dispute is not only impractical but an unrealistic decision only meant to ferment further tension in the region.
It is absurd for ICJ to arbitrarily make such an award to an entity that has never disputed ownership of the 100,000 square kilometre area until after 2014 when Kenya announced its intention to start exploiting the newly discovered oil and natural gas deposits.
It should not be lost on the interested parties that when Kenya was conducting exploration, Somalia was aware and keenly observed the process lest Kenya strays into its territory and had no opposition until the discovery of the gas and oil deposits.
Interested entities from Europe thereafter incited Somalia to lay claim to the 100,000 square kilometre area because of the oil deposits.
The United Nations’ top court awarded Somalia control of most of a potentially oil- and a gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean after a bitter legal battle with Kenya.
All of Africa’s maritime borders on the Indian Ocean follow the lines of Latitude. That is the South Africa/ Mozambique maritime border, Tanzania/ Mozambique maritime border, and the Kenya-Tanzania maritime border.
Until 2018, the Kenya-Somalia maritime border was internationally recognized to follow the line of latitude along the Indian Ocean. Somalia has recognized this for thirty-five years since 1979. One wonders what changed since then.
It changed when Kenya conducted a mineral exploratory mission in the territorial shelf 200 nautical miles off her coast between 2012 and 2014 and because nothing much was expected, Somalia watched keenly but never objected.
However, when the exploration revealed significant deposits of gas and oil and Kenya started plans to start mining, several European oil companies incited and sponsored Somalia to lay claim on the 100,000 square kilometre area and lodge a case at ICJ.
Kenyan fishermen have since 1965 exploited the waters peacefully without any interference.
Kenya’s economic activities including tourism, research, academia, and trade are likely to be affected by this ruling, rendering millions of Kenyans jobless.
The irony is that Somalia has three thousand kilometres of unexploited shoreline and the largest maritime territory in the whole of Africa, it is bent on taking Kenya’s maritime territory which is the smallest in the Indian Ocean.
It is for this reason that Kenya boycotted the hearing of the maritime dispute case at the ICJ and President Uhuru Kenyatta has protested the territorial grabbing advanced by faceless corporations that threaten to distabilize security in the whole Indian Ocean Archipelago.
How, for instance, does Somalia whose government has been unable to root out the insurgent group Al- Shabaab intend to man the disputed maritime area?
Considering that Kenya is among the Troop Contributing Countries (TCC) that have for the last 15 years been trying to stabilize Somalia, will they be expected to enforce ICJ’s ruling against themselves.
To further prove the pushing of the interests of faceless corporations, the Turkish parliament as if on cue, passed a motion to deploy its forces in Somalia.
President Kenyatta recently resolved that as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he will not accept compromising of Kenya’s territorial integrity.
The persistent procedural unfairness, as President Kenyatta refers to the ICJ process is likely to destabilise a region that is already dealing with insurgencies.
To accept ICJ’s ruling would in effect be admission for rearranging the previous African maritime borders from South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya, a feat that the ICJ has no ability to achieve.
It is important for the international community to relook at the ICJ decision and intervene instead of allowing the oil curse to afflict the already unstable area.
Greedy faceless corporations and naive African leaders should not be allowed to destabilise an already fragile region.
Such a decision is likely to make Kenya withdraw its participation in stabilizing Somalia, further throwing the international community’s 15-year peace process in Somalia in the doldrums.
Want to send us a story? Contact Shahidi News Tel: +254115512797 (Mobile & WhatsApp)
