A seemingly innocuous headline in a leading newspaper proclaimed a "snub" for Kenya in its on-going maritime boundary dispute with neighbouring Somalia.
It emerges that the reporting may have largely been based on a self-glorifying tweet from one senior official, but to my knowledge, it ruffled feathers all the same; notably from those directly ceased of the matter.
Understandably so!
Territorial boundary matters are quite sensitive. Even emotive. There are major 'national sovereignty' questions implicated. Both the known and previously unknown resources lie beneath the oceans; not to mention the unharnessed potential of lakes and other inland water sources, these days referenced as the 'Blue Economy.' Instructively, Kenya hosted the first-ever global conference only last November to rally world attention to the untapped potential of the 'Blue Economy.' Coastal states; including those usually designated as Small Island Developing States (SIDs) are now all the wiser. There is a steady stream of sentiment against "Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated" (IUU) fishing. Territorial integrity in order to secure 'the Blue Economy' is no longer a small matter. Somalia, notwithstanding close to three-decades of fragility and other pressing internal priorities has the temerity to put up a fight over the maritime boundary.