The government of Kenya revealed Sunday that it had pulled out of the maritime border case with Somalia just a few hours before the scheduled virtual hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.
In a letter to the ICJ, Kenya’s Attorney General argued that the COVID-19 pandemic struck right after Kenya had recruited the new legal team therefore the new legal team was deprived of the opportunity to hold necessary preparatory meetings and engagements. Furthermore, the case was not urgent, and, therefore, Kenya did not expect that the court would make this the first case to be heard on its merits via video link despite Kenya’s sustained objections. He pointed out Kenya’s concerns and perception of unfairness and injustice in this matter, which were made worse by the unexplained rejection of Kenya’s preliminary objections to ICJ’s jurisdiction and the dismissal of the request for the recusal of Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, given his past exposure to the issues in this case.
On March 9, the ICJ announced that it would hold public hearings in the case concerning maritime delimitations in the Indian Ocean from March 15 to March 24. Kenya’s maritime area was determined through the parallel latitudes in 1979. This claim over the exclusive economic zone was recognized by Somalia for 35 years. However, Somalia filed a case before the ICJ in 2014 disagreeing with Kenya on the nature of the line of the maritime boundary. Somalia argues that the maritime frontier should follow in the same direction as the land border while Kenya argues that it has always been taken in a horizontal line from the point where the two countries meet at the coast. The disputed area has four oil blocks.
Last year Kenya’s Attorney General had requested 12 months to brief a new legal team. the ICJ, however, gave him only until March this year. He further requested the postponement of the case to allow for a physical hearing. This request was denied as the court instead allowed the proceedings to continue virtually following article 59(2) of the rules of the International Court of justice. Furthermore, Kenya had objected to the presence of a Somali judge on the ICJ panel, saying he should recuse himself. This objection was rejected by the ICJ
The withdrawal of Kenya from the case did not affect the case as the proceedings continued as planned with the Court listening to Somalia’s oral arguments on Monday. According to the Statute of the ICJ, Somalia may call upon the Court to rule in favor of its claim if Kenya fails to appear before the Court or defend its case.
