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In Kenya, senators have asked the government to open an embassy in Morocco. Speaking last Thursday in the debating chamber, Kenyan lawmakers said the move is primordial to mend diplomatic ties with the Kingdom, following a «sour» episode.
«It is important as a country to have a physical diplomatic mission to assist the foreign department to be able to gather intelligence about the economy of that country», said Senator Ledama Olekina from Narok, a town in southwest of Nairobi.
The leader of the senate minority explained that Kenya «stands to reap big from Morocco thus the need to establish an Embassy there to unlock more benefits», reports local media.
Olekina's intervention was preceded by a question addressed by Senator Migori Eddy Oketch to the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the current state of relations between Rabat and Nairobi. «The Ministry should clarify whether the Government of Kenya plans to establish an Embassy in the Kingdom», Oketch asked.
«SADR», an obstacle to ties normalization
The senator asked the Ministry to identify, through the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee expected to inquire into the matter, the modalities taken into account in the process, as well as the timelines set, for the opening of said embassy.
«The committee should provide an update on the status of diplomatic relations between Kenya and the Kingdom of Morocco, explaining any efforts made by the Government of Kenya to resolve any longstanding issues between the two countries», he said.
The majority whip has also made the same demands. Its leader, Boni Khalwale, asked the government to act quickly and formalize relations with Morocco. «It must occur to us that Morocco, a country in Africa, is the fifth largest economy in Africa and for Kenya and Ethiopia, we are in position six. To sit and fail to have a formal relationship with Africa’s fifth biggest economy is to lose the obvious», he said.
Diplomatic ties between Kenya and Morocco have suffered due to a sour episode. After President William Ruto announced, on September 14, 2022, the day after his inauguration, the withdrawal of recognition of the self-proclaimed «SADR», ties with the separatist movement were resumed.
Since then, Ruto has continued to demonstrate his support for the Polisario. In October 2022, he announced his commitment to intensify the partnership with the so-called «SADR» in «fishing and mining», and in March 2023, he received the new «SADR Ambassador».
For his part, the President of the Lower House, Moses Wetangula, responded in his own way to the «Call from Tangier» demanding the expulsion of «SADR» from the African Union by insisting, last November during a meeting with the Polisario representative in Nairobi, on «the importance of keeping the Sahrawi Republic on the AU agenda and its membership» in the continental organization.
