Kenyan police shot dead at least one person and arrested dozens of others on Tuesday as protests intensified in the town of Nanyuki against a proposed American Ebola quarantine facility. The demonstrator, shot in the head, was seen lying motionless in the back of a police vehicle by journalists from Reuters and AFP. A protest organiser confirmed the death, while police had not commented by the time of reporting. Officers also fired teargas to disperse crowds and, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission, "hooded police officers fired live bullets and arbitrarily arrested 19 protesters." At least two people had already been killed during demonstrations in the same town the previous week.
The protests are focused on a planned 50-bed isolation centre at Laikipia airbase, roughly 200 kilometres north of Nairobi, Kenya's capital. The facility is intended to treat American citizens who may have been exposed to Ebola during the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. US officials say Kenya was chosen due to its proximity to the affected region and the limited medical infrastructure at airports closer to the outbreak zone. The Congolese city of Bunia, the epicentre of the outbreak, lies some 780 kilometres from Nanyuki, with Uganda in between. Thirty US medical personnel are expected to staff the centre once built.
The outbreak was declared on 15 May, though the virus — identified as the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment — is believed to have been circulating undetected for weeks before that. The World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency of international concern. As of early June, the DRC had recorded more than 515 confirmed cases and over 91 deaths; Uganda had reported 19 confirmed cases and two deaths. Kenya has recorded no cases.
Opposition to the centre reflects deep public anxiety about importing infection risk as well as broader concerns about government transparency. Protesters argue that Kenyans were not adequately consulted before the agreement was struck. "Laikipia is not a dumping site and our voices must be heard," protester Priscilla Imani told Reuters. A Nairobi court, responding to a petition by the nonprofit Katiba Institute, has temporarily blocked construction and barred the government from proceeding until a hearing set for 23 June. Satellite imagery reviewed by the BBC, however, suggests construction has continued at the airbase despite the court order.
President William Ruto has defended the plan, arguing that refusing the US request would be "inhuman" and that Kenya owes Washington a debt of gratitude for years of aid support. The quarantine centre dispute sits within a broader and more contentious context: Kenya and the United States recently launched a $1.6 billion, five-year health cooperation partnership covering disease surveillance, laboratory systems, and emergency preparedness — a deal that has itself faced legal challenges and criticism over transparency, data privacy provisions, and immunity clauses for some US personnel. A US official said Washington remains "optimistic" that objections to the quarantine facility can be resolved, even as tensions on the streets of Nanyuki continue to rise.