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| Boris Johnson in fresh foreign affairs controversy after 'congratulating' Kenya’s President on disputed re-election | Boris Johnson in fresh foreign affairs controversy after 'congratulating' Kenya’s President on disputed re-election |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Boris Johnson is embroiled in another foreign affairs row after claims he rushed to congratulate Kenya’s President on his controversial re-election. | Boris Johnson is embroiled in another foreign affairs row after claims he rushed to congratulate Kenya’s President on his controversial re-election. |
| Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory is hotly disputed, after allegations of “irregularities” and “illegalities” in the conduct of the poll, last month. | Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory is hotly disputed, after allegations of “irregularities” and “illegalities” in the conduct of the poll, last month. |
| Kenya’s Supreme Court first ordered a repeat vote, but has now dismissed legal challenges to Mr Kenyatta’s win. | Kenya’s Supreme Court first ordered a repeat vote, but has now dismissed legal challenges to Mr Kenyatta’s win. |
| The Kenyan government then tweeted, “Britain Congratulates @PresidentKE @UKenyatta on his re-election through UK Foreign Secretary @BorisJohnson. CS @AMB_A_Mohammed confirms.” | The Kenyan government then tweeted, “Britain Congratulates @PresidentKE @UKenyatta on his re-election through UK Foreign Secretary @BorisJohnson. CS @AMB_A_Mohammed confirms.” |
| The Foreign Office confirmed that Mr Johnson had spoken to Amina Mohamed, Kenya’s foreign minister, and appeared not to reject her version of events. | The Foreign Office confirmed that Mr Johnson had spoken to Amina Mohamed, Kenya’s foreign minister, and appeared not to reject her version of events. |
| “We welcome Kenya’s Supreme Court decision . . . [and] we look forward to working with the new Kenyan government,” a spokeswoman told the Financial Times. | |
| The spokeswoman added that the recent violence accompanying the disputed election was “unacceptable and regrettable”. | The spokeswoman added that the recent violence accompanying the disputed election was “unacceptable and regrettable”. |
| The only other nations to congratulate Mr Kenyatta immediately after the court ruling were South Sudan, Bangladesh and Uganda, according to the government’s official Twitter feed. | The only other nations to congratulate Mr Kenyatta immediately after the court ruling were South Sudan, Bangladesh and Uganda, according to the government’s official Twitter feed. |
| The row comes after Mr Johnson was forced to apologise for wrongly claiming charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was “teaching people journalism” when she was jailed in Iran. | The row comes after Mr Johnson was forced to apologise for wrongly claiming charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was “teaching people journalism” when she was jailed in Iran. |
| The Foreign Secretary was also strongly criticised when he said that the war-torn Libyan city of Sirte only needed to “clear the dead bodies away” in order to prosper. | The Foreign Secretary was also strongly criticised when he said that the war-torn Libyan city of Sirte only needed to “clear the dead bodies away” in order to prosper. |
| Other western countries are believed to still have concerns about the manner of Mr Kenyatta’s victory, which has prompted them to withhold their backing. | |
| After the first vote, his Jubilee party amended election laws to make nullification of the result harder and there are claims that pro-democracy groups were threatened with a crackdown. | |
| The Opposition leader Raila Odinga, has rejected the result as “illegitimate” and started a “national resistance movement” to force another election within six months. | |
| Meanwhile, at least nine people were killed in demonstrations and Kenyan police officers were filmed throwing rocks at a convoy of cars accompanying Mr Odinga. | |
| But Mr Johnson’s response came to light on Monday, just hours after Kenya’s Supreme Court dismissed the legal challenges to the October 26 election. | |
| Asked about the conversation with Mr Johnson, Ms Mohamed told the Financial Times: “We are grateful to our partners and friends who encouraged us along the way and congratulated us immediately the race was over.” | |
| It appeared that Ms Mohammed had sought congratulations from Mr Johnson, after diplomats from several countries said Nairobi had done the same with their capitals. | |
| Mr Kenyatta’s spokesman has since stated that more than 40 countries had congratulated the president. | |
| The Foreign Office has not responded to The Independent's request to confirm that Mr Johnson offered his congratulations. |