Kenya wins ICJ seat vacated by Somali judge Yusuf

Mogadishu (Somalia Today) — Kenyan legal scholar Professor Phoebe Okowa has been elected as a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She will assume the judicial seat vacated by the prominent Somali jurist, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf.

The election took place at the United Nations on Wednesday, and many in Kenya see it as a significant diplomatic achievement. Okowa’s victory puts a Kenyan national on the 15-member bench of the world’s highest court, based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Her election followed a closely watched, multi-round voting process. In the end, Professor Okowa secured the required “absolute majority” in both of the UN’s main bodies.

She won after four rounds of secret balloting in the General Assembly and three rounds in the Security Council, defeating three other candidates.

According to official results, she received 106 out of 185 votes in the General Assembly, comfortably passing the 97-vote threshold. In the Security Council, she won eight out of 15 votes, the minimum needed. Professor Okowa will serve the remainder of Judge Yusuf’s term, which runs until 5 February 2027.

A significant diplomatic effort

Kenya’s government has framed the outcome as a significant foreign policy success. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said the result “demonstrates confidence in Prof. Okowa’s judicial competence and Kenya’s standing.”

He also praised Kenyan diplomatic teams in New York and Geneva for “leading the charge.”

The nomination process began earlier this year. Kenya’s Permanent Mission to the UN formally notified Djibouti of its intention to nominate Okowa.

Djibouti is responsible for coordinating candidates from the Eastern African sub-region. Kenya then asked Djibouti to circulate the nomination to the wider African Group to build broad regional backing.

This diplomatic win comes after a recent setback for Kenya’s foreign policy ambitions. It follows the unsuccessful bid by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the chairperson position of the African Union Commission (AUC), a race that Djibouti’s Mohamoud Youssuf ultimately won.

Yusuf’s distinguished career

Professor Okowa replaces one of the ICJ’s most respected figures. Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf announced that he would resign, effective 30 September 2025, bringing to a close a long and distinguished career at the court.

UN member states first elected him to the ICJ in 2009, and he won re-election in 2018. During his tenure on the bench, Judge Yusuf served as the court’s Vice President from 2015 to 2018. His colleagues then chose him as President of the Court, a role he held from 2018 to 2021.

His presidency made him the first Somali national to lead the International Court of Justice and only the third African in history to hold the post.

The ICJ recently handled a high-profile case between Somalia and Kenya. On 12 October 2021, the court ruled largely in Somalia’s favour in a long-running maritime boundary dispute.

The judgment granted Somalia control over a large part of a 100,000-square-kilometre area of the Indian Ocean that many analysts believe is rich in oil and gas. Kenya, however, rejected the ruling.

Who is Phoebe Okowa?

Professor Okowa brings decades of academic and practical legal experience to the bench. She is widely recognised as an expert in public international law. She serves as a professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Queen Mary University of London.

Her career includes several historic firsts. In 2021, UN member states elected her to the UN International Law Commission (ILC), making her the first African woman to serve on the influential body, which helps develop and codify international law.

The United Kingdom co-nominated Okowa for that position, and the African Union also endorsed her. Earlier, in 2016, Kenya appointed her as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which also operates out of The Hague.

Okowa was born in Kericho, Kenya, in 1965. Her academic record is exceptional. She graduated at the top of her class with a Bachelor of Law degree with First Class Honours from the University of Nairobi in 1987, becoming the first woman in the history of the university’s Faculty of Law to achieve that honour.

After the Kenyan Bar admitted her in 1990, she continued her studies at the University of Oxford. She earned a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) degree in 1990 and completed her doctorate in 1994.

Alongside her academic work, Okowa has also served as counsel for governments, advising them on international law matters before both domestic and international courts.