U.S ambassador to Kenya says pushing for deal on maritime case

The U.S has been pushing Somalia to withdraw the maritime case with Kenya from the International Court of Justice.

U.S ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter said in a media interview with Kenya’s Daily Nation he had personally prevailed upon President Mohamed Farmaajo to withdraw the case.

“I’ve been to Mogadishu to speak to the Somalia president. I told him to pull off the court case,” said McCarter.

While noting the maritime dispute needs to be addressed quickly, McCarter said his government had been working bring President Farmaajo and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta ‘to come to the discussion table’.

But it seems efforts by the U.S to convince Somalia pull out the case from Hague based appears not to have made headways as Mogadishu maintains it will not give in to any attempts to have the matter resolved outside the court.

But the recent postponement of the case seems to have generated concerns among leaders. Former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Monday the government must come out clear on what transpired at the Court leading to further delays.

“What happened to our maritime case in the ICJ? Our people has (sic) the right to know why and how the case was postponed?” the former president posed.

Speaking at the UN last month, President Mohamed Farmaajo dismissed Kenyatta’s claim of negotiations on the matter noting Somalia is determined to seeing the matter resolved by the ICJ.

“We trust that when that judgement will be issued and the boundary established, a lasting settlement of this long-lasting dispute will finally be achieved. We are will abide by the court ruling,” Farmaajo said.