Two killed in Kenya as protest erupts over US Ebola quarantine facility
The plans have angered many Kenyans who have accused the US of offloading the public health risk of caring for patients
Two people have died in central Kenya during a protest against a planned US Ebola quarantine facility, as President William Ruto rebuffed criticism the centre will endanger Kenyans.
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Protest organiser, Patrick Wahome, said both had died of gunshot wounds after police opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators on Monday in the town of Nanyuki, where the air force base, intended to accommodate the facility, is located.
Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri said he was not aware of the deaths.
It comes amid plans to set up a 50-bed unit to house Americans who have been exposed to the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Uganda.
The preparations have angered many Kenyans who have accused the US of offloading the public health risk of caring for patients.
A Kenyan court last week temporarily suspended the plan in response to a lawsuit from a legal advocacy group.
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On Tuesday, Kenyan High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi issued an order barring the Kenyan government from taking any steps to build or begin operations at the facility in the town of Nanyuki before the case is resolved.
The judge also ordered the government to disclose all agreements and operational protocols related to the facility within seven days and scheduled the next hearing for June 23.
Despite the order, US military aircraft have continued to fly in staff and equipment in recent days, according to a US official and diplomatic sources.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Addressing the issue for the first time late on Monday, Mr Ruto said the facility was part of a wider national preparedness plan and a long-running health partnership with Washington.
"The facility that is at Laikipia Air Base is not a facility different from all the other facilities that we have across Kenya," he told reporters in northern Kenya.
The Kenyan president did not mention the court order.
The outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is centred in eastern Congo, and several cases have spilled over into neighbouring Uganda.
There have been more than 900 suspected cases, including over 220 suspected deaths from the disease.
Experts say the outbreak, declared on May 15, is likely significantly larger and more advanced than official figures suggest, having circulated undetected for many weeks.
President Donald Trump's administration has said it "cannot and will not allow" any cases to enter the US, unlike during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, when several infected US nationals were treated on American soil.
A US citizen who contracted Ebola while treating patients in the DRC as a medical missionary was moved to Germany last month for treatment, along with five others who were exposed.
A seventh person was taken to the Czech Republic.
The facility in Nanyuki would be staffed by members of the US Public Health Service, a uniformed branch of the Department of Health and Human Services.
It is meant to receive Americans who have been exposed to the virus but are still asymptomatic.
Patients who develop symptoms would be sent for care in other countries, US officials have said.
President Ruto said on Monday that he approved the facility after Trump asked Kenya to support it, citing decades of health cooperation with Washington.
Kenya's government has pushed for the facility to take in patients of all nationalities, not just US citizens.
Mr Ruto said it would serve Kenyans and foreign nationals too, though US officials have not confirmed this.
"We are a responsible government. We know what we are doing," Mr Ruto said.