ICJ concludes hearing on Kenya-Somalia’s maritime border case
HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Court of Justice [ICJ] will on Thursday [today] conclude the hearing on the maritime border dispute between Kenya and Somalia after nearly a week of submissions to the Hague-based court, which has jurisdiction to deal with the cases.
In the last week, the court has dealt with the case after postponing it three times on previous occasions, after Kenya did not get the fourth postponement, citing the Covid-19 pandemic and mysterious disappearance of a card as some of the reasons.
In an update on Wednesday, the ICJ said the case will be closed on Thursday, adding that it will begin discussing the case immediately after today. It is not clear how long it will take to get the case processed completely.
Hearings in the case of maritime delimitation in the Indian Ocean [Somalia v. Kenya] will end tomorrow at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the court’s seat, after which the court will begin its deliberations, ”the court said.
“Oral arguments were presented by the Federal Republic of Somalia on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 March 202,” it added, noting that Kenya had not taken part in the presentations.
Today, the Federal Republic of Somalia participates in the procedure from kl. 17 local time. Kenya started under unclear circumstances, but the court insisted that the case will continue as planned.
“In view of the fact that the Republic of Kenya, by letter dated 17 March 2021, reaffirmed its decision not to participate in the oral procedure, Somalia will present its final observations on Thursday, 18 March 2021 at 3 pm,” the statement added.
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