NAIROBI (Somaliguardian) – Kenya has pulled out of a long-simmering maritime boundary dispute case with Somalia, just a day before hearing scheduled to be held at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on Monday.
Somalia dispatched its delegation to the court last week to attend oral submissions from March 5, weeks after the court declined a Kenyan request for postponement of the hearing proceedings due to a number of issues including a missing map.
Both Somalia and Kenya were given opportunities to present evidences through physical and virtual presentation, and Nairobi has not yet sent its team to the Hague court.
Hearing proceedings are expected to continue even if Kenyan team does not to show up on Monday, though questions are being raised on how the court will decide on the sensitive case without listening to Kenya’s arguments.
The news of Kenya’s withdrawal from the maritime dispute case has been received with shock in both Nairobi and Mogadishu, and the government of Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta spent millions of dollars in the battle for the disputed maritime border.
Somalia and Kenya have not yet commented on the recent developments.
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