The Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) was formed in 1999 to address perceived political and economic discrimination against the people of the coast province.
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 characterise these British agreements as a form of bribery designed to facilitate colonisation of the interior.
MRC 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.
The Mombasa Republican Council was dormant until 2008, when it first raised claims that Mombasa should secede from Kenya to become an independent state.
Under the 'Pwani Si Kenya' (The Coast is not Kenya) slogan, the group argued that secession would liberate the people of the coast region from marginalisation by the successive governments in Kenya.
However, in response, the Kenyan government declared MRC as an illegal sect and asked its members who included Muslims and Christians to surrender.
MRC however, moved to court and contested the government's directive.
The High Court of Mombasa ruled in favour of the group and lifted the ban by the government saying it was unconstitutional.
MRC leader Omar Mwamnuadzi was later arrested and charged in 2014 along with 11 other members over alleged links with Al-Shabaab, claims the group dismissed.
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