Two people were killed in Kenya on Monday during protests against the establishment of a quarantine center for American citizens infected with the Ebola virus at Laikipia Air Force Base. The center was supposed to open last week, but was blocked by the Kenyan courts. TASR informs about it based on the AFP report.
The center, about 200 kilometers from the capital Nairobi, has a capacity of 50 isolated beds. Kenyan President William Ruto said on Monday evening that Kenya has been cooperating with the US in the field of healthcare for several years and that the quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Force Base is one of 24 that have been built in case of an Ebola outbreak.
However, hundreds of young Kenyans protested Monday in the city of Nanyuki against the establishment of the center because, according to the US announcement last week, it plans to send Americans who contracted the virus while abroad and will not be flown home. Local media footage captured violent protests near the facility. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
In a post on X, Hussein Khalid of the human rights organization VOCAL Africa said that “shot and killed’ was a 27-year-old man who ‘died at the scene’. He told AFP that the death of a second person, whose identity is still being ascertained, had also been confirmed.
Kenya has so far reported no cases of Ebola despite extensive testing of incoming persons; neighboring Uganda has 15 cases, including one death. Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday extended the temporary suspension of the US facility and called on the government to “disclose all agreements” relating to the center within seven days.
A small group of demonstrators also protested in central Nairobi on Tuesday. Dressed in white hazmat suits, they carried a casket emblazoned with the words “Ebola” and banners with the slogan: “We reject Ebola in Kenya.”
