MOGADISHU (SD) – The International Court of Justice is expected to deliver the verdict of the maritime dispute case between Somalia and its neighbouring Kenya next month, Somali government confirmed on Monday.

In a brief statement, Somali Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guled  said the court will announce its ruling on the maritime case on 12th October.

“It is my pleasure to share with the Somali people that the International Court of Justice will announce its ruling on the maritime case between Somalia and Kenya on October 12, 2021,” Guled who was the principal agent for Somalia during the later times of the case.

The ruling will bring to an end the case which has been running for more than six years since Somalia first filed the case at the Hague based court.

The court verdict is final and not subject to appeal.

Somalia and Kenya are seeking a resolution on the ownership of a 150,000 square-kilometer (58,000 square-mile) area off their Indian Ocean coastline, which both countries want to explore for oil, gas and fish.

In 2014, Somalia went to court to challenge a 2009 agreement that set its maritime border along latitudinal lines extending 450 nautical miles into the sea.