The ten-mile coastal strip, or mwambao, which is part of "Coastal Province" today, was seceding and didn't want to be annexed by Zanzibar as the former British rule was handing over power.
It became independent on Oct. 17, 1963 via an agreement between Prime Minister of Kenya Messrs Jomo Kenyatta, and the Prime Minister of Zanzibar M. Shamte nearly TWO months earlier than the rest of Kenya declared independence on Dec. 12, 1963. The Muslims in the ten-mile strip seemingly called themselves the "Republic of Kenya" in 1963, before the rest of the country was officially known by the same name on Dec. 12, 1964:
