Ahead of anticipated adverse verdict, Kenya pulls out of ICJ jurisdiction

GOOBJOOG NEWS|NAIROBI: Kenya has notified the International Court of Justice of its withdrawal from the courts’ jurisdiction ahead of the anticipated adverse ruling slated for October 12 as the East African nation sets the ground fro rejection of the ruling.

Foreign Affairs permanent secretary said Friday Kenya would not accept the court’s verdict terming it a product of a ‘flawed judicial process n account not just of its obvious and inherent bias but also of its unsuitability to resolve the dispute at hand.’

Ambassador Kamau noted the ruling of the UN court and the entire legal process amounted to a threat to the country’s territorial integrity.

““For these reasons, and in addition to withdrawing its participation from the current case, Kenya, on the 24th September, 2021, also joined many other members of the United Nations in withdrawing its recognition of the Court’s compulsory jurisdiction. As a sovereign nation, Kenya shall no longer be subjected to an international court or tribunal without its express consent.”

Kenya withdrew from the last round of proceedings late last year after its prayers to the court to defer the case and the recusal of justice Yusuf Abdulqawi, a Somali national were rejected by the court.

The Foreign Affairs PS said the case was one of the many attempts by Somalia to infringe on the country’s territorial integrity, an attempt that started in 1969 during the Shifta war (1963-1967).

The ruling, expected to end the seven-year maritime case that Somalia filed at the ICJ in 2014 is a row over the ownership of more than 100,000 square kilometres of Indian Ocean waters.

If court rules in favour of Somalia, Kenya is set to lose 26% of the exclusive economic zone the disputed border holds and can also lose up to 85% of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.

Meanwhile, Somali government has not publicly spoken about the expected ruling but the national broadcaster, SNTV announced, ”The people and the government of Somalia are looking forward with high hope to the ICJ’s verdict on maritime dispute between Somalia and Kenya which is four days away.”