Kenya revokes recognition of Polisario Front after message from Morocco King

Kenya yesterday announced that it would revoke its recognition of the Polisario Front and take steps to end its representation in Nairobi.

A joint Kenyan-Moroccan statement said that the decision came following the delivery of a message from Moroccan King Mohammed VI to Kenyan President William Ruto.

The statement read: “In deference to the principle of territorial integrity and non-interference, The Republic of Kenya extends total support to the serious and credible autonomy plan proposed by the Kingdom of Morocco, as the unique solution based on Morocco’s territorial integrity” to solve the Sahara issue.

King Mohammed VI congratulated William Samui Ruto on his election as President of the Republic of Kenya, in a message delivered by Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, yesterday.

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After his meeting with Bourita at the Presidential Palace in Nairobi, Ruto said Kenya “supports the United Nations framework as the exclusive mechanism to find a lasting and durable political solution to the dispute over the Sahara issue.”

Ruto noted that his country is immediately accelerating economic, trade and social relations in the areas of fisheries, agriculture & food security (fertiliser importation), health, tourism, renewable energy, security collaboration.”

Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony that the United Nations considers a “non-self-governing region”. It is a disputed region which Morocco says is under its sovereignty while the Algerian-backed Polisario Front has called for a referendum for self-determination under the auspices of the United Nations.