By Morris Kiruga, in Nairobi
Protests
to the UN and military deployment
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Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses a news conference after attending the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
As the Somalia-Kenya maritime dispute escalates into a legal and
diplomatic spat, peace and security concerns take centre stage.
From September 9 to 13, the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the The Hague will hear submissions
from Somalia and Kenya over their maritime territorial dispute.
- Somalia contends that its maritime
boundary with Kenya should run on a diagonal, extending from its land
border and not in the current flow parallel to the line of latitude.
- The contentious triangle measures about 100,
000 square kilometres; for Kenya, it places 51, 000 sq km
of its Exclusive Economic Zone and 95, 000 sq km of its continental shelf
in jeopardy.
While the main resource issue
has been the potential hydrocarbon deposits in the contested area, the dispute has the potential to escalate security issues in the
region, especially as it encourages
brinksmanship.
Both countries have officially
accused the other of auctioning oil blocs in
the disputed waters.
- In the Kenyan media, Somalia’s claim has been referred to as a ‘land
grab’ and Somalia has been accused of “sticking a finger up the nose of [its]
benefactors’ .
- President Mohammed Farmajo has been
accused of using the conflict to shore up his position ahead of next
year’s elections, the first universal suffrage in Somalia since 1969.
They have also been engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat,
which escalated this year.
- In February, Kenya recalled its
ambassador to Somalia and expelled Somalia’s envoy in Nairobi.
- In May, Kenya suspended direct flights
from Somalia to Nairobi. Then it denied entry to three top Somali
officials at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
- In response, Somalia said its officials
would no longer attend meetings in Nairobi, and banned all Kenya-based
NGOs working in the country.
- In June, Kenya closed its border crossing
with Somalia in Lamu citing security concerns.
Somalia first filed the case with
the ICJ in August 2014, with Kenya raising preliminary objections on the
court’s jurisdiction over the matter. Although the ICJ threw out the
jurisdiction issue in February 2017, there will be other other issues at play
when the case is heard.
A key one is that the current
President of the court, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, is a Somali national.
- Yusuf has served in the court since 2009,
and as Vice President from 2015 until 2018, when he was elected President.
- Another is that a decision for Somalia
would have a ripple effect on Kenya (it has another maritime boundary with
Tanzania) and other countries along the Indian Ocean coastline.
Protests
to the UN and military deployment
A bipartisan motion now before
Kenya’s parliament seeks to compel the executive to do more to resolve the
issue. One proposed solution is an official letter to the United Nations
protesting Somalia’s “aggressive legalistic stance” to file with the ICJ
without first using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. As a last resort,
the motion calls for the government to deploy the military in the disputed
waters.
- Kenya would rather the dispute is first
considered by the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development, and the East African Community. A 2009 memorandum of
understanding had provided for alternative dispute resolution.
- A mediation attempt by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed earlier this year also failed.
The #Arab Parliament calls on #Kenya to stop its hands on #Somali territorial waters, which are an
integral part of the Arab waters, and rejects its false pretensions to draw up
a new, unfounded map while rejecting its threats to interfere in #Somalia's internal affairs.
Among the
security concerns is that the escalating
diplomatic spat threatens Somalia’s peace and stability, and with it, the
security of the entire region as well as international shipping routes.
It would also, according to
Kenyan legislators, hamper the ongoing construction of a land border wall
between the two countries and the fight against al-Shabaab.
- Kenya has been battling the terror group
in Somalia since 2011, and is now a core part of the African Union Mission
in Somalia (AMISOM) forces holding Somalia’s fragile peace together. In
the front lines, cooperation between Kenya’s and Somalia’s security forces
is essential to combating terrorism.
- While there are fears that Kenya could
leverage this to force Somalia’s hand, its presence in Somalia is
primarily for its own security. Ceding its gains against al-Shabaab to
force the territorial dispute would be as costly for Kenya as it would be
for Somalia, which has been rocked by multiple terror attacks this year.
In late July, the mayor of Mogadishu was killed in one such attack.
- While coordinated efforts by several
navies managed to stop piracy off the coast of Somalia, pirates attacked
two shipping vessels in April, raising concerns of a likely resurgence.
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