Kenya and neighbours Somalia have renewed their bitter territorial conflict after the latter took Kenya to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over their maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean.
According to The Star, Somalia made a suit to the international court on August 28, 2014, asking ICJ to clarify the boundary between the two nations in the Indian Ocean.
However, Attorney General Githu Muigai who is leading a delegation from Nairobi said that the case is outside the jurisdiction ICJ as a 2009 MOU between the two countries had limited them on solving the boundary issue by negotiation and not through any court process.
The MOU says that the two sides would reach an agreement only after the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf had successfully established the maritime boundaries outer limits.
The Kenyan delegation also argues that the country has exercised its uncontested jurisdiction over the areas under dispute since Kenya first proclaimed her Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1979.
The AG’s preliminary objection on the legality of the ICJ to hear the case will form the basis of the oral proceedings that will be held from Monday 19 to Friday 23 September 2016.