Joint parliamentary committees to assess boundary over Kenya built wall

A joint parliamentary committee of Foreign Relations and Interior will tomorrow travel to regions along the Kenya-Somalia border to assess the situation following claims Kenya had encroached into Somalia’s territory in the on going border construction.

The team will also be joined by other government officials even as parliament today reversed its earlier 48 hour ultimatum resolution calling for a more concrete understanding of the situation before proceeding on any resolution.

The parliament speaker, Mohamed Osman jawari  who chaired the meeting said the  Parliament had approved the proposition to send the fact-finding mission to get first hand information.

“Somali government is dispatching fact-finding committee which will comprise of ministers and MPs to assess what is going there how Kenya government encroached” he said.

Daahir Amin Jesow deputy chairman of parliamentary interior and security affairs committee said that in the resolution passed Saturday, the parliament had called for ‘a fact-finding mission’ to assess the current situation with regard to what residents and the administrations of the area said.’

He added “As we were earlier assigned to come with an urgent solution to the crisis at the border in 48 hours, we have completed the work but sought more time to get reliable information from the ground”

Mohamed Omar Dhalha, deputy of parliamentary foreign affairs committee said that unless concrete information presented, the parliament cannot move forward to come up with a solution.

“After long consultation with the premier, defense minister, speaker of the parliament and first deputy speaker, we decided to look for further information without rush,” he said.

He added “The fact finding committee will be included another parliamentary committee which is defense committee”

Somali parliamentarians had on Saturday debated a motion that called for the withdrawal of Kenyan troops following the wall construction by Kenya which it said had encroached on Somali territory.

The lawmakers voted to have an urgent response to the border crisis with solution to the crisis at the border in 48 hours.

Last year Somali government filed 150-page court filing on Somalia’s maritime border dispute with Kenya at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

Somalia in its application is requesting the  ICJ to “determine, on the basis of international law, the complete course of the single maritime boundary dividing all the maritime areas appertaining to Somalia and to Kenya in the Indian Ocean, including the continental shelf beyond 200 [nautical miles].” It also asks the ICJ “to determine the precise geographical coordinates of the single maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean.”