by Yusuf M. Hassan, Managing Editor
GaroweOnline.com

NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 11 (Garowe Online) - The governments of Somalia and Kenya inked a Memorandum of Understanding last week that has stirred socio-political controversy across Somalia, re-igniting memories from half a century ago when Kenya was "awarded" Somali territory by withdrawing European colonizers.

A copy of the MoU, obtained by independent Somali news agency Garowe Online, indicated that the Somali and Kenyan governments will pose "no objection in respect of submissions on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles" to a United Nations body tasked with enforcing the the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The two-page document noted that the "maritime dispute" between Somalia and Kenya "has not been settled yet," adding: "While the two coastal States have differing interests regarding the delimination of the continental shelf in the area under dispute, they have a strong common interest with respect to the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, without prejudice to the future delimination of the continental shelf between them."

The document went on to mention that the two States will "work together to safeguard and promote their common interests" and that the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) will submit to the UN "preliminary information" regarding continental shelf limits on May 13, 2009.

But the MoU warns: "This submission may include the area under dispute," which was defined earlier in the document as "an overlapping area of the continental shelf."

However, the MoU notes that "the submissions made before the [UN] Commission and the recommendations approved by the Commission thereon shall not prejudice the positions of the two coastal States with respect to the maritime dispute between them and shall be without prejudice to the future delimination of maritime boundaries in the area under dispute."

Confusion

The MoU between the governments of Somalia and Kenya regarding the continental shelf has stirred public debate among the Somali people, who are already weary of foreign agendas.

The document, however, provides the legal framework for a future agreement between these two neighbors in East Africa, who share a coastline and a history of contradictions.

The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which reviews submissions, defines the continental shelf as comprising "...the submerged prolongation of the land territory of the coastal state" or to a distance not exceeding 200 nautical miles from the baseline of the coastal state's territorial sea.

Further, the Law of the Sea treaty stipulates that the "coastal State exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources."

The MoU signed between the governments of Somalia and Kenya leaves room for different intepretations, as the document openly admits that upcoming submissions to the UN body may allow the two countries to lay claim over the so-called "area of dispute."

This vague clause throws into question Somalia's sovereign rights over natural resources found on the continental shelf, as the long-standing "maritime dispute" between Somalia and Kenya has been placed on hold to allow Kenya to lay claim over the so-called "area of dispute" within the 10-year submission deadline period required under international law.

The document does not provide any information on longitude boundaries, but repeatedly states that the MoU does not impact the positions of Somalia and Kenya on the future delimination of the maritime boundary.

However, there is the sense that since Somalia is a weaker nation-state, the MoU was written to empower Kenya to lay claim over an area of ownership that has apparently been in "maritime dispute" for years.

The signing of this MoU comes at a time when Kenya is intensifying its search for oil, especially in offshore blocks, with Swedish and Chinese firms leading the effort.

Concern

Rebels opposed to the TFG in the Somali capital Mogadishu have spread information and accused the Somali government of "selling the sea" to the neighboring Republic of Kenya.

This information, rightly or wrongly, has largely been accepted at face-value by a Somali public reeling from nearly 20 years of civil war, gross abuse of public trust and a legacy inherited from the colonial years.

In the 1950s, the Northern Frontier District (NFD) was given to Kenya, although the territory's Somali-speaking population wanted to be part of the Somali Republic after gaining independence from Great Britian.

The TFG in Mogadishu, first created in Oct. 2004 following a conference of Somali clan factions in Kenya, was radically transformed in Jan. 2009 when the TFG Parliament was doubled to include Islamist MPs and Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was elected President of Somalia at a peace conference in the neighboring Republic of Djibouti.

Currently, the TFG controls very little territory outside of Mogadishu, where Islamist rebels control key neighborhoods and have openly defied the government's orders.

Most regions in southern Somalia are controlled by Al Shabaab hardliners and their Islamist allies, including the key towns of Kismayo, Baidoa and Marka.

The central regions of Somalia fall under the control of various groups, including clan militias and Islamist fighters. Support for Sheikh Sharif's government in these regions is very fluid and uncertain.

In the northwest, the unrecognized breakaway republic of Somaliland has refused to recognize President Sheikh Sharif's government, strictly following a separatist policy since the early 1990s.

The Puntland regional authority, in northeastern Somalia, has adopted a wait-and-see approach, although the region's leader has repeatedly supported federalism as the only acceptable system of government for Somalia.

It is not clear what impact the MoU between Somalia and Kenya will have on the rest of the country, but the document has stirred debate across the country as Somalis largely view such agreements hidden from the public with suspicion.

Source: Garowe Online