The British government on Tuesday expressed the desire for Kenya and Somali to resolve the maritime border dispute amicably.
While holding talks in Nairobi with Deputy President William Ruto, British High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriot said that dialogue remains key to solving the maritime dispute between the two nations.
She said it was remarkable that President Uhuru Kenyatta met with his Somalia counterpart Mohammed Farmajo in the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last week to explore ways of resolving the problem.
Kenya is pushing for dialogue with Somali to settle the dispute, however Somali snubbed Kenyatta’s request with Farmajo saying that the matter is before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the court should be the ultimate arbiter, because talks between the two countries have collapsed completely.
“Dialogue between Kenya and Somalia on how to solve the maritime dispute is important. This is why the step taken by President Kenyatta to meet with his Somalia counterpart during the United Nations General Assembly was impressive,” said Marriot.
Somalia filed the boundary delimitation dispute on August 28, 2014, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) staking a claim on an estimated 62,000 square miles oil-rich triangle in the Indian Ocean.
Before the case was filed, bilateral negotiations had dragged on for six years without much success.
Somalia is seeking to redraw the maritime boundary from the current eastwards flow from the land border south of Kiunga, to a diagonal flow.
If the court agrees with Somalia, Kenya could lose up to 100,000km2 of sea thought to contain huge amounts of hydrocarbons.
Nairobi also accused Somalia of continuing to market oil stocks to investors even though the area is still contested. It accused Mogadishu of using illegal maps that encroached on the Kenyan side.
Mogadishu denies encroaching on Kenyan land.
According to insiders, Nairobi believes that oil and gas companies are fuelling the dispute, with some already taking strategic positions to join the race for exploration soon after the matter is dispensed with by the court.
Last month Kenya’s parliament tabled a motion calling for the deployment of the military to the contested Kenya-Somali maritime border. Nairobi according to sources is seeking to use all means necessary, including the military, to protect the maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean.
Last month ICJ postponed the hearing of the maritime dispute case between the two countries for two months following a request by Kenya to the court asking for more time citing the need to recruit a new defence team.
The hearings will now be held between November 4 and 8.
JK/abj/APA