Kenya-Somalia maritime boundary dispute explained

International Court of Justice in The Hague is scheduled to start hearing the case between the neighbours on Monday.

On Monday, the United Nations’s highest court is due to begin hearings on a maritime boundary dispute between Somalia and Kenya, after years of delays in a case that has strained the neighbours’ diplomatic relations. Scheduled to run until March 24, the public hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will be held in a “hybrid format” due to the coronavirus pandemic, with some members of the court attending the proceedings in person while others participating remotely via a video link. On Sunday, Kenyan newspapers reported that the government in Nairobi had decided on the 11th hour not to take part in Monday’s proceedings, citing “perceived bias and unwillingness” of the ICJ “to accommodate requests for the delaying the hearings” as a result of the pandemic.