Hundreds of Kenyans took to the streets of Nanyuki in central Kenya to protest the approval of a U.S.-backed Ebola quarantine centre at the Laikipia Air Base by the government of Kenya.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that citizens hit the streets in mass demonstrations, demanding the immediate closure and cancellation of a newly proposed, American-funded medical isolation unit at the Laikipia Air Base.
The unrest reached a tragic flashpoint in the central town of Nanyuki, where hundreds of local youth marched directly to the gates of the Laikipia Air Base.
Demonstrators burned barricades and chanted anti-Ebola slogans, blockading logistical pathways used by foreign military staff.
According to eyewitnesses and protest organizers, local law enforcement deployed live ammunition to disperse the crowds, resulting in at least two confirmed civilian fatalities from gunshot wounds.
This escalation has intensified public fury, as local communities feel their safety is being compromised to protect foreign nationals.
Patrick Wahome, one of the protest organizers, said residents were concerned about the close interaction between military personnel and the local population.
“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.”
Other protesters questioned why Kenya should host a quarantine facility for foreigners despite not being the epicentre of the outbreak.
However, President of Kenya, William Ruto addressing the public outrage on the U.S.-backed Ebola centre insisted that the facility forms part of the country’s broader disease preparedness strategy and longstanding health cooperation with the United States.
He argued that the centre would not be reserved exclusively for Americans and could also serve Kenyans and other partners if required.
“The facility that is at Laikipia Air Base is not a facility different from all the other facilities that we have across Kenya,” Ruto told reporters.
According to the Kenyan president, the initiative was approved after a request from U.S. President Donald Trump and forms part of decades-long cooperation between the two countries on public health programmes involving HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and COVID-19.
Ruto said Kenya has already established isolation, surveillance, and treatment facilities in 23 counties and stressed that the proposed centre would serve both Kenyans and foreign nationals if necessary.
“We are a responsible government. We know what we are doing,” he said, while urging citizens to trust the country’s preparedness measures.
The U.S. government has pledged approximately $13.5 million toward strengthening Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, although limited details about the quarantine facility have been publicly disclosed.
Despite the project’s planned operational launch last Friday, Kenya’s High Court ordered a temporary suspension after a lawsuit argued that the facility could endanger public health and that the agreement lacked sufficient transparency and public participation.
The latest Ebola outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which is currently spreading across parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
The outbreak has emerged as one of Africa’s most pressing public health concerns after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, warning that the Bundibugyo strain currently has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment.
