Kenya has welcomed the tripartite meeting facilitated by African Union chairman and Egypt President Abdel Al Sisi on the sidelines of the 74th Session of United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma said, “Kenya welcomes this first meeting, which is a step in the right direction. Kenya has always believed in, and continues to call for negotiations as the best framework for finding African solutions for African problems.”
Director of Communications, the Somalia Presidency Abdinur Mohamed on Wednesday, however, said Somalia and Kenya had agreed to work towards normalising relations without any implications for the maritime case at the ICJ, “which will take its full course after Egyptian President HE Abdelfatah Al Sisi convened a tripartite meeting on the margins of UNGA.”
“Strong neighbourly relations are important for the stability, economic development and people to people relations. #Somalia welcomes the opportunity to work towards normalizing relations with #Kenya, as neighbours and partners, for a better common future,” Mohamed tweeted.
According to Villa Somalia, the Presidency, the maritime dispute will still be left to the ICJ for final arbitration.
The two countries agreed to form a joint committee to work on improving relations.
Al Sisi chaired the trilateral talks with Farmaajo and Kenyatta on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in an attempt to cool down escalating tensions over border Indian ocean demarcations between the two countries.
While Kenya has sought to have the case before the International Court of Justice resolved out of court, Somalia has maintained that the case goes to full hearing.ICJ had already set November 8 for the date of the commencement of the case following Kenya’s request that the matter be deferred, in a move that was seen to be tactical to force negotiations.
