Opposition leader welcomes Somalia's victory over Kenya at ICJ

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Opposition leader Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, who doubles as the leader of the Wadajir party, has welcomed the latest ruling by the International Court of Justice [ICJ] which shunned Kenya's quest to have the maritime border case with Somalia postponed. 

On Saturday, the ICJ ruled that the case over the controversial Indian Ocean coastline will go on as planned from March 15, asking both parties to prepare submissions. The court usually sits at The Hague, Netherlands, and has jurisdictions to solve such disputes. 

Warsame welcomed the ruling, adding that it will end the persistent "blames' by the Federal Government of Somalia, which often claims that the opposition is the stumbling block to the commencement of the vital case at the Hague-based court. 

Further, he warned that the outgoing government should not use issues of national interest for "political gain" as demonstrated in the maritime border dispute between Kenya and Somalia, which has dragged for the last two years at the court over various issues raised by Nairobi. 

On delayed elections, the former planning minister accused outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo of plotting to cling on to power, adding that Farmajo should be held responsible for violating the country's constitution without following various constitutional dictates. "Farmajo has committed two crimes.

The first one is that he knowingly and blatantly violated articles in the constitution, 71 and 112 of the constitution, which stipulate that the JSC must first be approved by the parliament before a presidential decree is issued," he added. 

Kenya had managed to get postponement twice in 2019 and once in 2020 but the latest bid was frozen by the court. In the application, Kenya argued that it had misplaced a map that was set for presentation as evidence besides raising questions about the covid-19 pandemic. 

GAROWE ONLINE