By Staff Reporter

Eastleigh residents yesterday complied with the directive by clerics to not celebrate the much awaited international Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling which was delivered on Tuesday evening.

Calm was witnessed in the mushrooming Somali neighborhood as people continued with their normal business activities laying fear to bed that a violent protest could erupt in the streets ahead of yesterday’s court verdict.

The call was also replicated across all mosques in the city with imams pleading with the Somali community in their jurisdiction to keep peace as they awaited for the determination of the court.

However, several business premises considered closing their outlets and shops in the afternoon owing to fear that their valuables and property could be looted by opportunistic miscreants.

The UN’s top court has ruled largely in favour of Somalia in its long-running dispute with Kenya over their maritime border.

Kenya rejected the ruling “in totality” before accusing the International Court of Justice of bias.

The case concerned a 38,000 sq mile (100,000 sq km) triangle in the Indian Ocean that is thought to be rich in oil and gas.

The dispute has been at the heart of a diplomatic row between the neighbours.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to protect and preserve Kenya’s territory by all means.

 Responding to Tuesday ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that largely favours Somalia in its dispute with Kenya, President Kenyatta tore into the judgment firmly stating that Kenya rejects it in totality and would not recognise the court’s findings.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta. Photo/ PSCU

“While Kenya is not surprised at the decision, it is profoundly concerned by the import of the decision and its implications for the Horn of Africa region, and international law generally…The decision embodies a perpetuation of the ICJ’s jurisdictional overreach and raises a fundamental question on the respect of the sovereignty and consent of States to international judicial processes.

International tribunals have jurisdiction ONLY to the extent of CONSENT by a State” he said in a strongly-worded statement issued from the US moments after addressing a United Nations Security Council meeting.

He assured as the commander in chief, he was committed to solving the issue amicably while urging for calm stating that the government was seized of the matter.

“I do not intend to abrogate my solemn oath; and, I will do everything possible as President and Commander-in-Chief, to preserve the territory of this our great Republic and bequeath the same, intact and unencumbered, to the next President when my term expires in less than a year’s time” he said.

He noted that the judgement would obviously strain the relations between the two countries.

Somalia’s president urged Kenya to “respect the international rule of law” after the UN’s top court handed Mogadishu control of most of a potentially oil- and gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean on Tuesday following a bitter row with Nairobi.

Kenya got only a small slice of the disputed tract of sea off the East African coast in the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague.

In a televised speech following the ruling, Somalia’s Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is widely known as Farmajo, said Nairobi should “see the decision of the court as an opportunity to strengthen the relationship of the two countries”.

Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. Photo/ Villa Somalia

But with Kenya refusing to recognise the “biased” court’s authority, all eyes will be on what Nairobi does next in one of the world’s most troubled regions.

Somalia had dragged Kenya to the court in 2014 after years of efforts to resolve a dispute over the 100,000 square-kilometre  tract failed.

“Since the day I was elected, we have faced political, diplomatic, security and economic pressure by the Kenyan leadership,” Farmajo said.

“The verdict was a fair indication of the transparency of the International Court of Justice.”

Judges unanimously ruled there was “no agreed maritime boundary” in force and drew a new border close to the one claimed by Somalia.

The ICJ’s judgment is final and cannot be appealed, but the court, set up after World War II to rule in disputes between UN states, has no means of enforcing its rulings.

States can however go to the UN Security Council if another country fails to obey a ruling.

Nairobi says it has exercised sovereignty over the area since 1979.

The contested area is believed to contain rich gas and oil deposits, and also has important fishing rights. Nairobi has already granted exploration permits to Italian energy giant ENI but Somalia is contesting the move.