Kenyans protest planned US Ebola quarantine facility

Hundreds protest near the site of the planned facility, which US officials say would serve Americans who have been exposed to Ebola.

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in central Kenya to protest a planned Ebola quarantine facility at a military base that would take in United States nationals.

Demonstrators rallied on Monday in the city of Nanyuki, days after Kenya’s High Court ordered the suspension of the plan. The suggestion that Kenya should host people exposed to the virus, an outbreak of which has killed over 200 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring Uganda, has sparked anger in the country, which has recorded no cases of the virus.

Footage obtained by the Reuters news agency showed a crowd of about ⁠100 people on roads leading to the Laikipia airbase – site of the planned facility – blowing ⁠whistles and some riding atop a pickup truck.

Smoke could be seen rising from something burning on the road. The agency said police and the military had increased their presence on roads leading to the airbase.

US officials have said that a 50-bed unit is planned at the base to serve US citizens who have been exposed to the virus but are still asymptomatic.

However, a lawsuit arguing that ⁠the site could endanger public health, given Kenya’s fragile health system, and that the agreement lacked transparency, was accepted by Kenya’s top court on Friday.

The US government has said it intends to commit $13.5m towards Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts. However, few details regarding the planned centre have been released.

Health Minister Aden Duale said on Saturday that the agreement was part of ‌a wider push to strengthen emergency response systems, adding that the quarantine centre is intended for “everyone” and not exclusively for US nationals.

The site was expected to have become operational last Friday, according to US officials. A number of military aircraft flew in and out of Nanyuki late last week and over the weekend, in what diplomats and experts said appeared to be part of ongoing preparations, despite the court order.

‘Picketing for our lives’

Patrick Wahome, one of the demonstrations’ organisers, told Reuters that the protesters wanted the facility to ⁠be shut down for good by Tuesday, June 9.

“Nanyuki is a very ⁠small town. The military personnel who serve the base … live with us. Our kids go to the same schools and that means if anyone is infected, we are all infected,” he said. “We are picketing for our lives.”

Malin Ndegwa said Kenya should not be exposed to the virus by hosting foreigners when it is not the epicentre of the outbreak.

“Why are they not doing it in the DRC (Congo)? Why are they not doing it in Uganda? Why must they bring it here?” he asked.

“We are saying, we categorically, no negotiations, no public participation, we want nothing. We want that facility taken out of our town, we want it taken out of Kenya,” he told the Associated Press news agency.