President Uhuru Kenyatta has rejected the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Kenya vs. Somalia maritime dispute.
ICJ delivered its ruling on the case on Tuesday, October 12.
Last week, Kenya had said that it would not accept any ruling by the Hague-based court on the Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean Case.
Now, Kenya’s President Kenyatta has reinforced his country’s complete rejection of the ruling, which favors Somalia.
In his statement, President Kenyatta said that the ruling surprised nobody in Kenya.
He labeled the decision by the ICJ a “jurisdictional overreach.”
Furthermore, Kenyatta believes that ICJ has attempted to “impose its mandate” on matters that are expressly excluded from the 1965 declaration.
President Kenyatta now believes that the only solution available to Somalia and Kenya is a negotiated settlement.
Otherwise, he stated that the ICJ decision would only “strain the relations” between the two neighboring nations.