President William Ruto has revoked Kenya's relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
Ruto's decision came a day after his inauguration ceremony, in which the SADR president Brahim Ghali, was present.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a partially recognised State agitating for independence from Morocco.
Through a tweet on Wednesday, September 14, president Ruto said that he cuts ties with the 'state' and embarks on wiping its presence out of Nairobi.
"Kenya rescinds its recognition of the SADR and initiates steps to wind down the entity's presence in the country," Ruto's tweet read in part.
He made the announcement shortly after receiving a congratulatory message from His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the king of Morocco.
Two hours later, the President deleted the tweet from his page and edited the Facebook caption.
"Kenya supports the United Nations framework as the exclusive mechanism to find a lasting solution to the dispute over Western Sahara," he added.
SADR has been fighting for independence from Morocco for years over Western Sahara. It controls a portion of the Western Sahara located east of the Moroccan Wall.
SADR claims the whole of Western Sahara hence the conflict with Morocco.
Previous articles and research have placed Morocco as one of the leading producers of fertiliser in the world.
Kenya's top leadership had differed over the Morocco-Sahrawi conflict for months.
During an AU Peace and Security Council virtual meeting in March last year, former President Uhuru Kenyatta called for "an immediate ceasefire" allowing for the resumption of peace talks in the region.
However, his then Deputy who is now the president had a different opinion. This came evident when Ruto met Moroccan Ambassador to Kenya El Mokhtar Ghambou a few weeks later.
"The autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty is the best solution to the Sahara issue," the embassy quoted Ruto as saying during the meeting at the ambassador's residence in Nairobi.
