By The Star Staff Writer
MOGADISHU – In a clear attempt to de-escalate its diplomatic row with Kenya, the Somali government on Sunday assured Nairobi that it had no plans to offer offshore blocks in contested waters.
“The Somali and Kenyan people share strong cultural and historical ties that cannot be severed or affected by any disagreements among them,” said Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement. “Indeed, the Somali and the Kenyan people’s destiny and future are indissolubly interconnected.”
The Somali statement comes a day after Kenya expelled Somalia’s Ambassador to Nairobi and recalled its envoy to Somalia for “urgent consultations.”
Somalia regretted Kenya’s decision to “instruct the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Somalia to depart Kenya without prior consultation with the government of Somalia,” said a two-page statement from Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.
Somalia’s decision to launch its first post-conflict exploration licensing round in London on Feb. 7 angered Nairobi, which called the move “unparalled affront and illegal grab at the resources of Kenya will not go unanswered.”
Many Somalis warned of dire environmental consequences and possible exploitation of the natural resources in their already unstable Horn of Africa nation if the bid is allowed to succeed. Somalia has no petroleum law or functioning institutions that can protect its interests.
On Saturday, Kenya said Somalia’s decision was “a most regrettable and egregious by the government of Somalia to auction off oil and gas blocks in Kenya’s maritime territorial area that borders Somalia.”
The two countries have been locked in a maritime dispute since 2009, with Mogadishu saying its maritime boundary with Kenya lies perpendicular to the coast and Kenya claiming the line of latitude protrudes from its boundary with Somalia.
The Somali government reassured Kenya that it “stands by its commitment not to undertake any unilateral activities in the disputed area until such time as the ICJ renders its judgment.”
Somalia also disputed Kenya’s claim that it’s offering offshore blocks in disputed maritime boundaries, saying the “map in question depicts Somalia’s claimed maritime zones and are entirely consistent with Somalia’s long-standing position, including its claim in the maritime delimitation case with Kenya currently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).”
“Somalia is not now offering, nor does it have any plans to offer, any blocks in the disputed area until the Parties’ maritime boundary is decided by the ICJ,” said the statement.
In 2017, Kenya suffered a major setback after the ICJ, the U.N.’s highest court, agreed to hear the Somali case, rejecting Nairobi’s preliminary objections to its authority to rule on the maritime boundary dispute between the two countries. Fearing that it could lose the case, Kenya has been pushing for direct negotiations, which Somalia resisted, especially after numerous talks that preceded Mogadishu’s decision to sue Kenya yielded no results.
Many Somalis suspect that Kenya’s diplomatic escalation is just a stratagem aimed at shanghaiing Somalia into an out-of-court settlement for the maritime dispute that’s being adjudicated by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Somalis believe that Kenya has taken advantage of their nation’s weakness to lay claim to their waters, whose ownership were not in dispute when Somalia had a strong, functioning government.
Somalia said it’s “committed to continuing to work hard in close cooperation with its brothers and sisters in Kenya to address the pressing issues confronting both nations and the region.”