Kenya has not had the best relations with The Hague since the summoning of Top Leaders over the 2007 Post-Election Violence cases.
12 years later, Kenya is, again, facing ICJ, another Hague based court, over a maritime dispute filed by the neighboring country- Somalia. While the Somalia Government is pushing for the hearing of this case to begin now, Kenya is insisting on putting it off until it is done with its preparations.
As of yesterday, Kenya withdrew from the boundary dispute case over claims of biasness. Attorney General Kihara Kariuki, is expected to address the ICJ on Kenya’s disapproval of how the court is handling the Maritime case.
Analysts and critics agree that online proceedings will favor Somalia Government because its argument works without complex demonstrations. Kenya on the other hand, is missing a critical document that will be helpful in strengthening its case; aside from that, its legal team has faced a massive setback in preparations since Covid-19 struck and its foreign lawyers were unable to fly into the country.
Concerns of having Judge Ahmed Yusuf, a Somali national, as part of the legal team were also raised by the Kenyan Government citing that there will be elements of unfairness and injustice if he would not be removed from the case. These concerns were disregarded by the court, making Kenya even more unsettled.
Kenya’s government has also threatened a “complete divorce” with The Hague-based courts if its grievances are not addressed.
