Kenya Urges Somalia To Take Auctioned Kenyan Oil Blocks Issue Seriously
President of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. [IMAGE/ COURTESY]
The Kenyan government has urged the Somalia government to come clear on the claims that the country had auctioned Kenyan Oil Blocks on the disputed section of the Indian Ocean.
Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Macharia Kamau on Sunday, reiterated that the country had raised genuine concerns that needed clarification.
Kenya had released a map showing blocks L21, L23, L24 and L25 in the disputed area as the same ones Somalia offered up for bids.
The blocks are reported to be an area about 100,000 square kilometers in a triangle east of Kenyan coastline.
“If what our claim [on the auction] did not happen, then it takes no harm to pick up a phone and straighten things up or drop a note and clarify issues,” said Kamau.
“We urge the Somalia government to take seriously the concerns we have raised as a country.”
Kamau further stated that Kenya had not recalled its ambassador or expelled Somalia envoy.
He termed the summoning of ambassadors as a chance to get “credible” information on the crisis at had.
Somalia government had disputed claims by the Kenyan government that its oil blocks in a disputed section of the Indian Ocean, had been auctioned.
In a statement on Sunday, Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Isse Award affirmed that the country does not have plans of auctioning any blocks in dispute until the case at International Court of Justice (ICJ) is determined.
“Somalia is not now offering, any blocks in the disputed maritime area until the parties’ maritime boundary is decide by the ICJ,” the statement read in part.
In reassurance, the Somalia government noted that its stands by its commitment not to take unilateral activities on Kenya until such a judgement is rendered.
Further, the state noted that its keen in addressing any problems that arise in a bid to foster good ties the two nations share.
“The government of Somalia is committed to continue to work hard in close cooperation with its brothers and sisters in Kenya to address the pressing issues confronting both nations and regions,”
Mogadishu had sued Kenya at the international court after Kenya sought to have the maritime boarder between the two to run parallel on latitude to the eastward South of Kyunga.
The statement comes a day after the Kenyan government sent back Somalia ambassador Mahmud Ahmed Nur ‘for consultation’ over his country’s decision to ‘auction’ oil blocks belonging to Kenya.
Read: Somalia Denies Auctioning Disputed Oil-rich Blocs, Regrets Kenya’s Decision To Expel Envoy
In a statement on Saturday, the state announced that Nairobi had also summoned its envoy to Mogadishu Lucas Tumbo.
Mr Nur landed in Mogadishu on Sunday at the Aden Abdulle International Airport together with Somalia’s First Lady Zeynab Moalim and the Foreign minister Ahmed Issa Awad.
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