Two people were reportedly “shot dead” on Monday during protests in Kenya against a planned Ebola isolation center for Americans at a military installation.
According to the BBC, one of the victims was “shot in an area close to the Laikipia Airbase where a demonstration was taking place,” and died in the hospital after friends brought him in for treatment. The other was “already dead when he was taken to the hospital by soldiers.”
One of the victims was later identified by his family as Charles Mang’aro Mwangi, age 27. According to his mother, Mwangi was “going to see a friend briefly” on Monday and was “not part of the protests.”
“He did not carry stones and was not throwing anything at the police. He was just on the road, minding his own business, when he was shot,” she said, implying that he was killed by the police.
Laikipia Air Base is a Kenyan airbase near the town of Nanyuki. The United States has announced plans to build a 50-bed quarantine facility for Ebola patients at the base, in response to the Ebola outbreak currently underway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
U.S. officials said the location was chosen because of its proximity to the Ebola outbreak, to “ensure Americans can be treated in a timely manner.” Other airports were ruled out because they had “limited capacity” to receive incoming medical flights.
“At this moment in time, we are not aware of any Americans who are set to be transferred to the bio isolation facility,” an American official told the BBC on Tuesday, adding that the plan was to have the isolation facility available in case of emergencies.
U.S. Air Force planes carrying material and personnel for the treatment facility reportedly landed at Laikipia Air Base on Friday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto about the Ebola outbreak last week, promising $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, on top of $112 million in assistance committed to the region. Kenyan officials have said the facility would also be used for Kenyan military personnel and civilians if needed.
Ruto appeared to be satisfied with this arrangement, but much of the Kenyan public is not. Protests quickly broke out against the facility, and the Law Society of Kenya joined forces with the union of medical professionals to ask the national High Court to block the Ebola facility.
The plaintiffs objected to turning Kenya into a “geopolitical isolation ward” or “dumping ground,” complained that the plan for the treatment facility lacked transparency, and expressed concern that Kenya’s shaky healthcare system would be unable to handle an Ebola outbreak.
The High Court of Kenya issued orders against opening the facility on Friday, ordered that no one infected with Ebola could be brought into the country, and demanded that Ruto’s cabinet make all details of the Ebola facility public.
On Monday, Ruto made his first public comments about the controversy, expressing bafflement at the intensity of opposition to the Ebola center.
“The facility that is at Laikipia Air Base is not a facility different from all the other facilities that we have across Kenya,” he pointed out.
Ruto noted that Kenya has experience with managing treatment and isolation facilities and has worked closely with the United States for decades on health issues.
“When President Donald Trump asked the government of Kenya to support them by having a center at Laikipia Air Base, I gave the okay because it was an agreement and a partnership with friends who have worked with Kenya for 30 or 40 years,” he said.
“The American government has supported us,” Ruto continued. “They have deployed huge resources in Kenya to work with us on HIV/AIDS and other diseases. They worked with us on Ebola. In fact, KEMRI was one of the institutions that worked on research on the vaccines for Covid, because we have a solid partnership with America and other partners.”
KEMRI is the Kenya Medical Research Institute, a state-managed medical research organization.
“I am wondering why anyone would want to politicize a matter so serious as a pandemic,” Ruto said. “We are a responsible government, and we know what we are doing.”
Despite Ruto’s entreaties, hundreds of protesters marched through Nanyuki on Monday, blocking off streets and dropping piles of burning tires. Some of the protesters carried signs accusing Ruto’s government of wanting to “kill us through Ebola.”
“Why are they not doing it in the DRC? Why are they not doing it in Uganda? Why must they bring it here?” one protester asked.
“So 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 added.
The facility at Laikipia Air Base is apparently still under construction, with more flights landing on Wednesday after a few days of confusion over the legal status of the project.
The most recent order from the High Court ordered a three-week delay in opening the quarantine facility, but Reuters quoted a U.S. official who said the facility could be ready to receive patients as soon as Thursday.
Reuters reported seeing a U.S. diplomatic cable that warned Ruto might have “underestimated the depth and intensity of public opposition,” especially taken in tandem with public unhappiness over rising fuel prices and the impending anniversary of deadly anti-government protests in 2024.
“The continued work on the facility – despite a court injunction halting construction – has further fuelled criticism,” the cable noted.
The U.S. State Department on Wednesday sought to ease tensions by saying that American citizens “at high risk of exposure to Ebola but had not yet shown symptoms” could be brought to the Laikipia Air Base facility for up to 21 days of quarantine, but those who developed symptoms of Ebola would be “transported elsewhere for treatment.”