New York (CBATV) – Somalia President Mohamed Farmaajo used his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to reject Kenya’s call for talks on the maritime boundary dispute.
The two countries are fighting over the maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean. President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo, on the other hand, said the matter was in court and that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should be the ultimate arbiter because talks between the two countries have collapsed completely.
He further said that Somalia will comply with the court’s final judgment and accept the outcome on the boundary that is delimited by the court. The firm-talking president added that as a matter of international law, the court’s judgment will be binding on Kenya as well. President Uhuru Kenyatta had earlier said he was open to anything, though emphasizing on dialogue as the best option to find a solution. Somalia’s president also rejected the African Union’s push for dialogue touted as African solutions for African problems.
The AU chairman, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, had brokered talks between the two leaders on Tuesday evening on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly convention in New York in which Somalia and Kenya said was the first step to normalize relations.
By Hussein Jama
September 27, 2019
