Hundreds of Somalis took to the streets of the country’s capital Mogadishu in protest to the long-running dispute between the two east African nations on territorial claim to a disputed portion of potentially lucrative Indian Ocean waters.
The dispute went before the UN’s top court in The Hague this week. The court is yet to decide whether it has jurisdiction to hear the claim that will determine the fate of offshore oil and gas reserves.
Mogadishu Mayor led the protesters who were wrapped in Somalia’s national colours as they denounced “Kenyan ambitions to claim a portion of Somalia’s territorial waters”.
“There is no one who can purchase Somalia’s territorial waters,” Mayor Yusuf Hussein Jimale said during a rally at a city square.
“We are very much hopeful that the verdict of the hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will be in our favour,” he added.
Somalia launched a case with the United Nations’ highest judicial organ in 2014 asking it to rule on the maritime border between the east African states, saying that diplomatic efforts to resolve the disputed boundary had failed. Both countries lay claim to a triangle of water stretching over more than 100 000 square kilometres that is believed to hold oil and gas.
“This is about integrity. Somalia needs to unite in defending its territorial waters and that is why we are here,” said protester Asha Abdirahman.
At the start of preliminary hearings on Monday, Kenya argued the tribunal was not competent in the case and asked it to dismiss Somalia’s request.
The hearings continue Friday after which the ICJ will rule on whether to take up the case.
