On April 7, 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed “between the Government of the Republic of Kenya and the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic to grant to each other No-Objection in respect of submissions on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200nm to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)”. In this document, both countries recognised the existence of the maritime boundary dispute, and agreed to solve the said dispute through negotiation. The MoU was signed by the Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Somalian Minister for National Planning and International Cooperation. However, this MoU was later rejected by the Transitional Federal Parliament of Somalia in October 2009 on the grounds that it was not customary that a Minister signed a binding bilateral agreement, thus declaring it void and non-actionable. Somalia’s objection led the CLCS to make no further consideration of Kenya’s submission.
