Mudavadi heads to Rabat to open Kenya’s first embassy in Morocco, signaling diplomatic realignment

Foreign Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is expected in Rabat this weekend to inaugurate the country's first-ever embassy in Morocco—a symbolic diplomatic milestone that marks a strategic recalibration in Nairobi's Maghreb engagement.

The opening, scheduled for Monday alongside Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, reflects a notable shift in Kenya's historical ambivalence toward Rabat, long shaped by the polarising Western Sahara question.

According to an invitation issued by Ambassador Jessica Gakinya, Kenya's first envoy to Morocco, the embassy will be formally opened on Monday.

It will be Mudavadi's inaugural trip to Rabat as foreign minister, and the first time a Kenyan foreign minister makes an official visit for bilateral diplomacy with Morocco, a country that has persistently prioritised international recognition of its claim over Western Sahara.

For Kenya, the timing is telling. Only weeks ago, the Ruto administration formally adopted Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2025 on Foreign Policy, a strategic document outlining the country's foreign policy priorities.

While the paper reaffirms Nairobi's commitment to the One-China Policy, it notably omits any mention of Western Sahara, despite earlier drafts calling for "support for the inalienable right of all peoples to self-determination, including the people of Western Sahara."

The paragraph was removed after recommendations by the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations, which cited "the evolving nature of geopolitics" as justification.

This omission is not accidental. It reflects President Ruto's cautious retreat from explicit support for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)—a long-standing position that saw Nairobi host SADR President Brahim Ghali and previously allowed the republic to establish a mission in Nairobi.

After he took office, Ruto controversially tweeted that Kenya would "no longer recognise" SADR. Though the tweet was later deleted, the diplomatic signal was received loud and clear.

The fallout prompted an apparent walk-back in public, but Kenya did recall its ambassador to SADR, Peter Katana Angore, in 2023.

Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Korir Sing'Oei later told this outlet that the post held "little strategic commercial value."

Ambassador Katana had only presented his credentials to Brahim Ghali in 2022, stating at the time: "Kenya has always stood in solidarity with the Sahrawi people in their quest for independence."

That declaration now reads as politically obsolete.

Morocco's strategic interests have likely factored into this recalibration.

Rabat views any formal recognition of SADR as a red line and has invested significant diplomatic capital across Africa to shift the AU's consensus.

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Kenya's embassy opening will be interpreted by Rabat as a soft victory, especially given the backdrop of Nairobi's muted SADR stance and Morocco's rising profile in AU affairs.

Diplomatic sources familiar with Kenya's recent lobbying efforts for Raila Odinga's failed bid to chair the African Union Commission suggest that Mudavadi, during closed-door sessions in Addis Ababa, offered verbal reassurances that President Ruto would soon visit Morocco.

That visit never materialised—but the embassy opening may now serve as the symbolic fulfilment of that pledge.

Morocco, reportedly, threw its weight behind Djibouti's candidate instead.