Relationship dossier
Kenya
Morocco
Relationship assessment
Practical bilateral cooperation alongside disagreement over Western Sahara
Kenya toward Morocco
+15Kenya has pursued bilateral cooperation with Morocco through official engagement and agreements. Its support for Sahrawi self-determination and relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic conflict with Morocco’s position on Western Sahara.
Morocco toward Kenya
+15Morocco has pursued official bilateral engagement and cooperation with Kenya. Morocco’s position on Western Sahara differs from Kenya’s support for Sahrawi self-determination, creating a significant political disagreement.
Overall relationship
+15The relationship combines bilateral cooperation and official engagement with a sustained political difference over Western Sahara. This mix supports a cautiously positive overall characterization, though the scope and practical depth of cooperation are unclear.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Kenya and Morocco maintain diplomatic relations and have pursued bilateral cooperation, including through agreements and official engagement. Their relationship also intersects with differing approaches to the Western Sahara dispute: Kenya has supported Sahrawi self-determination and maintained relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, while Morocco contests that position. The relationship therefore combines practical cooperation with a significant political disagreement.
Areas of tension
- Different positions on Western Sahara and the status of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Key developments
Kenya and Morocco established diplomatic relations.
Major uncertainties
- The implementation and present scope of bilateral cooperation agreements are unclear.
- The extent to which Kenya’s position on Western Sahara has affected other areas of bilateral engagement is uncertain.