There was confusion on Wednesday over whether Nairobi had cut ties with the contested Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Western Sahara after Kenya’s new president announced the break but then deleted his tweet.
Earlier in the day, Ruto said on Twitter after meeting Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita that “Kenya rescinds its recognition of the SADR and initiates steps to wind down the entity’s presence in the country”.
But he later removed the tweet without giving an explanation.
The announcement had come barely a day after the leader of the Polisario independence movement, Brahim Ghali, attended the swearing-in ceremony of Ruto as president in Nairobi.
The Algerian-backed Polisario Front wants an independent state in the Western Sahara, a vast stretch of mineral-rich desert which Morocco considers part of its own territory.
Bourita had delivered a congratulatory message from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, Ruto said, adding that the two nations had agreed on improved ties “in areas of trade, agriculture, health, tourism, energy, among others”.
“Kenya supports the United Nations framework as the exclusive mechanism to find a lasting solution of the dispute,” Ruto said of the Western Sahara issue in another tweet that remained on his account late on Wednesday.
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