Date: Sunday, 23 June 2019
Somalia has further roiled the waters of its relations with Kenya after pushing through a political statement from the Arab League, condemning Nairobi of alleged grabbing of Mogadishu's sea territory.
On Thursday, the Arab Parliament issued an unusual statement which claimed Kenya was drawing up an illegal map that includes taking away Somali territory.
Publicised by the Somali Foreign Ministry, the statement claimed Somali waters were Arab waters, citing a blanket mass of waters occupied by the 22-member states under the Arab League to which Somalia is part.
"The Arab Parliament calls on Kenya to stop its hands on Somali territorial waters, which are an integral part of the Arab waters, and rejects its false pretensions to draw up a new, unfounded map while rejecting its threats to interfere in Somalia's internal affairs," the Foreign ministry said, translating the Arabic communique issued by the Parliament.
DISPUTE
Arab League is a regional bloc of Arabic-speaking North African and Arabia countries.
In issuing the statement, the Arab Parliament has effectively been dragged into the a dispute before the International Court of Justice.
In 2014, Somalia sued Kenya at the ICJ seeking to redraw the maritime boundary that currently runs eastwards from the land border. The dispute affects about 100,000km2 of sea said to contain huge deposits of hydrocarbons.
Kenya has remained mum on the statement by the Arab Parliament.
