Mombasa Republican Council

Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) is a separatist organisation^[1] based in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya.^[2] The group claims areas around Mombasa and the coastal area. It has both Muslim and Christian supporters.^[3] The leader of the group is Omar Mwamnuadzi and he was charged in 2014 along with 11 other members. However, the group denies claims by government officials that it has forged links with Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabaab.^[4]

History

The Mombasa Republican Council was formed in 1999 to address perceived political and economic discrimination against the people of the coast province.^[5] The group traces its secession claims to the 1895 and 1963 agreements transferring the ten-mile strip of land along the coast to the Government of Kenya from Zanzibar. Some critics characterize these British agreements as a form of bribery designed to facilitate colonization of the interior. The group contests these agreements as invalid, because they were enacted without the consent of coastal stakeholders, and says the state of Kenya has failed to honor the provisions designed to protect the coastal population.^[6]

Secession claims

The Mombasa Republican Council was dormant until 2008, when it first raised claims that Mombasa should secede from Kenya to become an independent state. They argued that secession would liberate the people of the coast province from marginalization by the successive governments in Kenya. The slogan they are using is Pwani Si Kenya ("The Coast is not Kenya").^[7] In response, the government declared the group to be an illegal organization, together with another 33 groups.^[7]

Mombasa Republican Council contested the government's decision in the court. The high court of Mombasa lifted the ban and ruled that claiming the group was illegal was unconstitutional.^[8]

References