Somalia deputy PM hopeful for a ‘joyful’ outcome in maritime dispute case

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia Mahdi Mohamed Guled on Tuesday said he hoped that the outcome of the Kenya-Somalia Maritime dispute case, currently at the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be “a source of joy for all Somalis.”

“I hereby declare to the Somali people that the government and people of Somalia are united in defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia, and I hope that the outcome will be a source of joy for all Somalis,” he said.

The Deputy PM said so after the first phase of oral debate on the maritime dispute between the two countries concluded on Tuesday.

ICJ will decide the next proceedings on the matter as Kenya failed to attend the hearings.

Kenya announced it will no longer participate in the case citing what it perceives as “a bias and unwillingness of the court to accommodate requests for the delaying the hearings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The dispute between Kenya and Somalia is over which direction the two countries’ border extends into the Indian Ocean.

Somalia argues that the maritime boundary should continue in the same direction as the land border’s southeasterly path. While Kenya insists that the border should take a roughly 45-degree turn at the shoreline and run in a latitudinal line.