The Kenyan government has reportedly decided not to take part in the hearings of its maritime dispute case with Somalia that begins at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, reported Africa News.
As reported by the Nation, the decision has been taken in protest over the court’s bias and unwillingness to accept Kenya’s request to delay the hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Kenya wishes to inform the court, through the Registrar, that it shall not be participating in the hearings in the case herein, should the same proceed from March 15, 2021, as presently scheduled,” Attorney General Kihara Kariuki wrote in a letter to the ICJ.
The public hearings at the ICJ, which is scheduled to run until March 24 in The Hague, will be held in a hybrid format due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some members of the court will attend the proceedings in person while others participating remotely via a video link.
“Since the case is not urgent for any reason, Kenya least expected that the court would make this into the first case to be heard on its merits via video link, despite one party’s sustained, well-grounded objections,” the letter read.
The letter further states that the Kenyan government has not been able to prepare for the hearing due to the COVID-19 pandemic as it struck just around the time that the country had recruited a new legal team.
The Kenyan government also protested the presence of Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, a Somali national, as one of the main judges for the case.
The dispute between Kenya and Somalia is related to the direction in which the two countries’ border extends into the Indian Ocean.
Somalia claims that the maritime boundary should continue on in the same direction as the land border’s southeasterly path. Kenya, on the other hand, insists that the border should take a roughly 45-degree turn at the shoreline and run in a latitudinal line.
