Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Mohamed Farmaajo Thursday evening recommitted to rally their respective administrations towards bringing normalcy in the Kenya-Somalia relations.
The undertaking was given during talks after Kenyatta paid his Somalian counterpart a courtesy call at a city hotel following Farmaajo’s participation in the just concluded International Conference on Population Development.
Relations between the two countries have in recent months been impeded by a diplomatic row over a maritime delimitation dispute pending at the International Court of Justice.
Kenya successfully applied to have hearings slated for this month deferred to allow the State Law Office time to recruit a defense counsel.
The most recent sign of tense relations between the two countries emerged in October when Somali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote a protest letter to Kenya over the alleged violation of the country’s airspace by a Kenyan-registered aircraft.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Kenyatta and Farmaajo agreed to enhance relations regardless of the outcome in the maritime delimitation case filed by Somalia.
“President Farmajo expressed gratitude for the role of Kenya in AMISOM, hospitality to Somali refugees, and expressed his confidence that the ICJ issue would be resolved in a mutually acceptable manner and not affect our bilateral relations,” the Foreign Office tweeted.
