From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Apr 11 2009 - 07:52:24 EDT
Somalia-Kenya sign MoU for maritime 'area under dispute': Exclusive
Apr 11, 2009 - 10:48:20 AM
by Yusuf M. Hassan, Managing Editor
NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 11 (Garowe Online) - The governments of Somalia and Kenya
inked a Memorandum of Understanding last week that has stirred
socio-political controversy across Somalia, re-igniting memories from half a
century ago when Kenya was "awarded" Somali territory by withdrawing
European colonizers.
A copy of the MoU, obtained by independent Somali news agency Garowe Online,
indicated that the Somali and Kenyan governments will pose "no objection in
respect of submissions on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond
200 Nautical Miles" to a United Nations body tasked with enforcing the the
1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The two-page document noted that the "maritime dispute" between Somalia and
Kenya "has not been settled yet," adding: "While the two coastal States have
differing interests regarding the delimination of the continental shelf in
the area under dispute, they have a strong common interest with respect to
the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200
nautical miles, without prejudice to the future delimination of the
continental shelf between them."
The document went on to mention that the two States will "work together to
safeguard and promote their common interests" and that the Somali
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) will submit to the UN "preliminary
information" regarding continental shelf limits on May 13, 2009.
But the MoU warns: "This submission may include the area under dispute,"
which was defined earlier in the document as "an overlapping area of the
continental shelf."
However, the MoU notes that "the submissions made before the [UN] Commission
and the recommendations approved by the Commission thereon shall not
prejudice the positions of the two coastal States with respect to the
maritime dispute between them and shall be without prejudice to the future
delimination of maritime boundaries in the area under dispute."
Confusion
The MoU between the governments of Somalia and Kenya regarding the
continental shelf has stirred public debate among the Somali people, who are
already weary of foreign agendas.
The document, however, provides the legal framework for a future agreement
between these two neighbors in East Africa, who share a coastline and a
history of contradictions.
The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which reviews
submissions, defines the continental shelf as comprising "...the submerged
prolongation of the land territory of the coastal state" or to a distance
not exceeding 200 nautical miles from the baseline of the coastal state's
territorial sea.
Further, the Law of the Sea treaty stipulates that the "coastal State
exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of
exploring it and exploiting its natural resources."
The MoU signed between the governments of Somalia and Kenya leaves room for
different intepretations, as the document openly admits that upcoming
submissions to the UN body may allow the two countries to lay claim over the
so-called "area of dispute."
This vague clause throws into question Somalia's sovereign rights over
natural resources found on the continental shelf, as the long-standing
"maritime dispute" between Somalia and Kenya has been placed on hold to
allow Kenya to lay claim over the so-called "area of dispute" within the
10-year submission deadline period required under international law.
The document does not provide any information on longitude boundaries, but
repeatedly states that the MoU does not impact the positions of Somalia and
Kenya on the future delimination of the maritime boundary.
However, there is the sense that since Somalia is a weaker nation-state, the
MoU was written to empower Kenya to lay claim over an area of ownership that
has apparently been in "maritime dispute" for years.
The signing of this MoU comes at a time when Kenya is intensifying its
search for oil, especially in offshore blocks, with Swedish and Chinese
firms leading the effort.
Concern
Rebels opposed to the TFG in the Somali capital Mogadishu have spread
information and accused the Somali government of "selling the sea" to the
neighboring Republic of Kenya.
This information, rightly or wrongly, has largely been accepted at
face-value by a Somali public reeling from nearly 20 years of civil war,
gross abuse of public trust and a legacy inherited from the colonial years.
In the 1950s, the Northern Frontier District (NFD) was given to Kenya,
although the territory's Somali-speaking population wanted to be part of the
Somali Republic after gaining independence from Great Britian.
The TFG in Mogadishu, first created in Oct. 2004 following a conference of
Somali clan factions in Kenya, was radically transformed in Jan. 2009 when
the TFG Parliament was doubled to include Islamist MPs and Islamist leader
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was elected President of Somalia at a peace conference
in the neighboring Republic of Djibouti.
Currently, the TFG controls very little territory outside of Mogadishu,
where Islamist rebels control key neighborhoods and have openly defied the
government's orders.
Most regions in southern Somalia are controlled by Al Shabaab hardliners and
their Islamist allies, including the key towns of Kismayo, Baidoa and Marka.
The central regions of Somalia fall under the control of various groups,
including clan militias and Islamist fighters. Support for Sheikh Sharif's
government in these regions is very fluid and uncertain.
In the northwest, the unrecognized breakaway republic of Somaliland has
refused to recognize President Sheikh Sharif's government, strictly
following a separatist policy since the early 1990s.
The Puntland regional authority, in northeastern Somalia, has adopted a
wait-and-see approach, although the region's leader has repeatedly supported
federalism as the only acceptable system of government for Somalia.
It is not clear what impact the MoU between Somalia and Kenya will have on
the rest of the country, but the document has stirred debate across the
country as Somalis largely view such agreements hidden from the public with
suspicion.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----