(Nairobi) A tweet by Kenya’s new president, William Ruto, announcing on Wednesday a severance of his country’s diplomatic ties with the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Republic (SADR), was deleted hours later, causing confusion.
Posted at 8:47 p.m.
“Kenya cancels its recognition of the SADR and takes measures to reduce the presence of this entity in the country,” Mr. Ruto wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning after discussions with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
A little later, he deleted this message without providing an explanation.
This unexpected announcement came barely 24 hours after Mr. Ruto’s investiture ceremony, which was attended by the leader of the Polisario Front independence movement, Brahim Ghali, in Nairobi.
The Polisario (independenceist) Front, backed by Algeria, wants an independent state in Western Sahara, a vast expanse of desert that Morocco considers part of its own territory.
Mr. Bourita handed him a message of congratulations from King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Mr. Ruto said, adding that the two countries had agreed to improve their relations “among others in the areas of trade, agriculture, health, tourism and energy”.
“Kenya supports the UN framework as the exclusive mechanism to find a lasting solution to the dispute,” President Ruto also said on Twitter, maintaining this message.
Bitter diplomatic battle
A former Spanish colony, Western Sahara sits at the western end of the vast desert of the same name, which stretches along the Atlantic coast.
The Polisario, which proclaimed the SADR in 1976, continues to demand, with the support of Algeria, the holding of a referendum planned by the UN at the time of the signing of a ceasefire between the belligerents. in 1991.
For its part, Morocco, which controls 80% of the territory, advocates autonomy under its exclusive sovereignty.
Both sides engage in a bitter diplomatic battle to ensure the support of their allies.
The UN, which considers Western Sahara as a “non-self-governing territory” in the absence of a definitive settlement, has deployed a peacekeeping mission there, Minurso.
The Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura was appointed last November as special envoy of the UN secretary general in an attempt to find a political solution to the conflict.
The African Union (AU) recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Republic as one of its members.
In a speech last month, Mohammed VI urged Morocco’s partner countries to “clarify” their position on the disputed territory of Western Sahara and to support it “unequivocally”.
This file is “the prism through which Morocco considers its international environment”, said the sovereign.