Three Dead as Protests Erupt in Kenya Over US-Backed Ebola Quarantine Center
Meanwhile, Kenya continues development of US-backed Ebola quarantine center in defiance of court order.
I recently reported that the Trump administration plans to send U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus to Kenya rather than bring them home for observation and treatment as the outbreak of this hemorrhagic disease continues in the Africa.
I noted that President Donald Trump’s team had taken the lessons of the deadly 2014 outbreak to heart, when an infected patient spread the disease to his nurses while being treated at a Texas hospital.
Reports from Kenya indicate that the quarantine center is now being targeted for demonstrations and at least three people have been killed in the subsequent unrest.
At least one person has been killed after Kenyan police opened fire as hundreds of demonstrators protested a quarantine centre for US citizens exposed to Ebola, which the United States government is racing to build in the central town of Nanyuki.
On Tuesday, the NGO Vocal Africa posted on X that one person had died after being shot in the head by Kenyan police who earlier used water cannon, tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The proposed 50-bed unit at an air force base in Nanyuki has angered many Kenyans, who accuse the US of offloading the health risk of caring for those exposed to the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
Last week, hundreds took to the streets in Nanyuki amid growing frustration among residents as Kenyan and US authorities publicly reaffirmed their commitment to the plan despite court orders. At the time, the demonstration also turned violent, with at least two people killed and one wounded.
Police in Kenya have fired tear gas to break up a protest in the central town of Nanyuki against the construction of an Ebola quarantine centre for US citizens. Last week, two people died after being shot as police dispersed similar protests. https://t.co/cavnnDd7NT pic.twitter.com/Eo2qQbrBFl
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) June 9, 2026
A high court in Kenya had temporarily suspended U.S. plans to set up an Ebola quarantine facility in the country, out of public health concern. However, the U.S. is proceeding with its plans.
Kenya’s government is pushing ahead with plans to establish an Ebola quarantine and treatment facility at a military installation in partnership with the United States after a Kenyan high court temporarily barred the arrangement earlier this week.
The facility is for Americans potentially exposed to the deadly virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), more than 1,500 miles away. Kenya has not recorded any Ebola cases.
It will help to “strengthen monitoring, isolation and emergency response capacity,” Kenya’s Ministry of Health said Saturday while adding that several other isolation and treatment centers will also be set up, including at Nairobi’s Kenyatta National Hospital and Kenya National Police Hospital.
A US government source involved in the Ebola response told CNN that Americans helping to run the facility landed on Saturday at Laikipia Air Base, where the facility will be, about 125 miles north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
The Trump administration is also advising European nations to step up their travel restrictions for people coming to the continent from Ebola-impacted countries.
The Trump administration is telling European nations that they need to step up their travel restrictions for people coming to the continent from Ebola-hit countries in Africa, hinting that failure to do so may result in increased U.S. regulations on travel from Europe, including for the World Cup soccer tournament.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday called European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to convey the concerns and “to discuss U.S. and European coordination and response efforts to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda,” the State Department said in a statement.
“The department’s highest priority and focus remain protecting the health of the American people and preventing this Ebola outbreak from reaching our shores,” it said.
U.S. and Europe Differ on Ebola Preparedness Measures Ahead of World Cup
Reports say Washington is urging tighter travel restrictions from Central Africa, while EU officials favor screening over border closures; coordination tensions emerge over public health strategy.… pic.twitter.com/PvkoXCFKjd
— Washington Eye (@washington_EY) June 9, 2026
Finally, the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention announced a $518 million emergency response plan to address the continuing outbreak.
The plan, which runs through November, covers emergency coordination, surveillance, testing, infection prevention, clinical care and community outreach.
It came as the DRC’s Ministry of Health reported 71 new confirmed cases in a single 24-hour stretch this week, bringing the country’s confirmed total to at least 452 cases and 82 deaths. Uganda confirmed three additional cases on Friday, putting its total at 19 confirmed cases and two deaths.
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Comments
Sounds like the Kenyan police have an intelligent method for addressing “protestors”, unlike democrats.
The average IQ of Kenyans (excluding BHO) is rather dismal. I doubt if anyone here at LI can even try to think at that low a level.
I’m not sure that’s a fair comment in this situation. You would want to get it out, too, (and possibly yourself) if your country shared a border with an Ebola-ridden country and that country lacked the means to fight it effectively.
This subject is a ‘do what’ article.
I can understand why Kenya doesn’t want anything to do with an Ebola hospital. The disease is not endemic to their country. We don’t want it here, why should we be surprised when they don’t want it there?
They should have picked a better continent to live on.
What a tone deaf comment.
Sanddog is absolutely right. I understand their position and don’t blame them for not wanting it. That said, I also understand the US’s position here.
Yeah, really want more details. So, it’s a quarantine AND treatment center? Staffed by whom? So, if someone who is quarantined becomes ill they are then hospitalized there? Likely ICU care, including ventilators will be required? And only US patients will be treated there? Not Kenyans who might have been exposed from staff there?
Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but if I was a US healthcare provider who had been exposed to Ebola while doing volunteer work and subsequently contracted Ebola, I would much prefer to be managed in a US hospital than in a makeshift hospital on an Air Force base in Kenya.
I understand the need for caution, but US hospital staff should be adequately prepared to manage highly contagious infections.
What’s in it for Kenya is obviously (though not stated in the post) that we’re paying them for permission to do this. Lovely lovely US aid is a reasonable compensation for the country taking on a real but quite moderate risk.
So the really relevant question is who will actually get all this lovely lovely money. If the Kenyan government, which was elected by the Kenyan people to make decisions like this, can be relied on to spend the money for the benefit of the entire nation, then the protesters are in the wrong.
But knowing how most of Africa (other than Botswana) works, if I were Kenyan I would assume that the money will be going directly into the pockets of key officials, and the average Kenyan will get little to no benefit from it, in which case why should they shoulder even a very minimal risk on our behalf? That’s like expecting a bodyguard to risk his life to protect you, while you’re paying someone else for his services and he gets nothing from it.
(Rather like the Hessians whose services the UK bought to try to suppress the American revolution. They were slaves and got none of the money the UK paid for their services, so they had no reason to behave like professional soldiers and every reason to steal whatever they could from the civilian population whose hearts and souls the UK was trying to win over.)
WHO needs to send Bill Gates over. He can fix it.
I went to Kenya, last year as a matter of fact.
Mixed bag but forward thinking trying to be the Africa Singapore.
They are in deep with the Chinese belt and road initiatives.
Pretty clean , outside of the shanty town where about a million poverty stricken people live and bamboos walk around like they own it, . Felt safe, however I doubt that was true, but you did have deal with young police officers dressed in fatigues carrying machine guns.
They have drones that will catch you speeding and then that info is sent to one of the military guys and you are given a very expensive ticket, as our guide was.
Went to Lamu, island off Kenya, incredible
Yeah, Kenya is actually doing pretty well for the continent. It’s a sticky situation, but we would be saying the exact same thing if Ebola was in Mexico.
Walking bamboos?! Are they related to ents?
I can honestly say that I don’t give a tinker’s damn about this, and I don’t even know what a tinker’s damn is!
A lot of Kenya’s money is from tourism and besides, not having effective ways outside of isolation to deal with a highly fatal disease, you would, , as we would, not want a. Fatal disease brought into our country
Tinkers are the British version of Gypsies, a/k/a Travelers, and while camped near a village they would engage in repairing pots and pans and similar items, and doing odd handyman jobs, before moving on to the next camping spot. A tinker’s curse was considered worthless, either because they were known for cursing so often, or simply because they were considered worthless themselves, so who cares if they curse you? It’s like if a homeless crazy person curses you nowadays.
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