The Kenyan Parliament has directed the Cabinet to send a protest letter to the United Nations after its judges at the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) agreed to settle a maritime border dispute between Kenya and Somalia, reported Business Daily. Both the countries have made claims for a disputed 100,000 square kilometers region in the Indian Ocean, which supposedly has a large deposit of oil and gas.
Leader of Majority in the National Assembly, Aden Duale, and Minority Party leader John Mbadi on Wednesday presented a resolution on behalf of the house concerning the longstanding Kenya-Somalia Maritime feud.
In the resolution, they argued that Somalia moved to ICJ without exhausting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms under the international laws of the sea. The resolution pointed out that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed by both countries, binds the two nations to settle their boundary disputes outside the court.
It said that the boundary dispute should be settled through diplomacy and dispute resolution mechanisms available under African Union, Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and East African Community (EAC) and not the ICJ where Somalia has taken the matter.
“As a first and most preferred option, engage the Federal Government of Somalia to resolve the boundary dispute for the benefit of both countries and the region, through diplomacy and dispute resolution mechanisms available under African Union (AU), Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) and East African Community (EAC),” reads the motion.
The resolution even proposed deploying the Kenya Defence Forces in the disputed area to protect the territory of the republic.
“…this House resolves that the Government of the Republic of Kenya explores other lawful and constitutional mechanisms for protecting the territory of the Republic, including deploying the Kenya Defence Forces to the subject boundary to undertake the responsibility of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic as contemplated under Article 241(3) of the Constitution,” reads part of the motion.
The hearing of the dispute case will begin on September 9 and run through to September 13 at the ICJ in The Hague, Netherlands.
