Somali Deputy PM leaves for Hague ahead of maritime case

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Somali Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guled alongside other government officials left for the Hague Monday morning ahead of the oral proceedings in the ongoing maritime case with Kenya at the International Court of Justice.

The DPM’s delegation includes current Attorney General Suleiman Mohamud, his predecessor Ahmed Dahir and Somalia’s ambassador to the Horn and Red Sea region ambassador Yusuf Garad.

Guled told journalists before departing that he was confident Somalia will win the case against Kenya. The International Court of Justice announced last week the oral proceedings will kick off on March 15. Part of the proceedings will be in-person at the court while part of it will be through video conference in light of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

The court earlier threw out an application by Kenya to further postpone the hearings. Kenya successfully managed to convince the court to postpone the case three times in the recent past.

Somalia will be represented by a battery of lawyers drawn from the US, UK and France. The first in the team is Paul Richler, an international lawyer, based in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude 1973 and Tufts University, B.A. 1969.

Prof. Philippe Sands, a 58-year-old lawyer who graduated from Harvard, University College London and other universities in Canada, U.S, France and Australia will be part of the team. The third on the list is Professor Alain Pellet, a 72-year-old French lawyer who teaches at Université de Paris Ouest – Nanterre La Défense. He is a longtime adviser to the French government.