Kenya freezes recognition of SADR

Kenya informs AU of its decision to freeze recognition of so-called SADR

Nairobi, July 18 – Kenyan authorities has brought to the attention of the African Union Commission their decision to freeze their recognition of the so-called Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), said a joint statement issued following the official visit of the Moroccan foreign minister, Mohammed Benaissa, to Kenya on June 24th through 26th,2007.

    In a note addressed to the African Union commission, Kenyan authorities brought to the attention of the AU Commission paragraph 6, which states that Kenya "has frozen its recognition of the SADR until the conflict is resolved at the United Nations where there is an ongoing progress".
 
    Kenya welcomed, in the same paragraph, Morocco's initiative aiming to settle the Sahara dispute and commended the direct talks between the parties that have been ongoing under the auspices of the United Nations. It further expressed the hope that "an amicable and long lasting solution would be found to this conflict".
 
    The so-called SADR was only proclaimed in 1976, when Polisario separatists laid claims to Morocco’s southern provinces, the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by the North African kingdom in 1975 under the Madrid Accord. Kenya had suspended, in October 2006, its one-year old diplomatic relations with the so-called SADR.
 
    Morocco announced at the end of Mr. Benaissa’s visit to Kenya its decision to restore its diplomatic mission in Nairobi to full ambassadorial status, added the joint statement.