Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary (CS) Monica Juma, on Wednesday, revealed that the country was open to negotiations to find an amicable solution to the maritime dispute with Somalia after meeting the United Nations Security Council.
Speaking to a local radio station, CS Juma stated that Kenya had received positive responses from countries which the foreign office engaged with on the matter.
“The message we’ve received from across the world is an encouragement to resolve the matter amicably and therefore this is the process that we would prefer,” she commented.
“We are committed to resolving any disputes in a negotiated manner and we’re hoping that we’ll find the solution to the problem between ourselves and our brothers next door because our destinies are interlinked,” CS Juma added.
The CS disclosed that on February 22, her ministry briefed ambassadors of nations with membership at the United Nations Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security on the situation between Kenya and Somalia.
The CS noted that Kenya had provided the facts to both councils in a bid to draw their attention to the situation.
Kenya dramatically summoned its diplomat in Mogadishu on February 16 after Somalia allegedly auctioned oil and gas blocks located in a 62,000 square miles triangle subject to a boundary delimitation case lodged at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on August 28, 2014.
The contested area has four of the 24 oil blocks that have traditionally been under Kenya’s Exclusive Economic Zone until Somalia’s legal challenge in 2014.
The apparent selling of oil blocks in the disputed area at a London-auction on February 7 for prospective exploration angered Nairobi, the Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau terming the move “unparalleled affront and illegal grab at the resources of Kenya.”
“This outrageous and provocative auction deserves and will be met with a unanimous and resounding rejection by all Kenyans as well as all people of goodwill who believe in the maintenance of international law and order and the peaceful and legal resolution of disputes,” PS Kamau warned.
He added that Somalia’s actions were “tantamount to an act of aggression against the people of Kenya and their resources.”
