NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan activists are accusing government officials of defying a court ruling after reports emerged that an American-backed Ebola quarantine facility is already up and running in the country, despite a judicial order last month that was supposed to halt its establishment.
The facility was designed to house and quarantine Americans who had been evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola outbreak that began roughly two months ago has claimed at least 930 lives out of 2,344 confirmed cases.
Over the weekend, U.S. humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse announced that seven of its American employees who had been working in Congo were undergoing a 21-day quarantine inside “large military tents” somewhere in Kenya. The organization said none of the workers had displayed any Ebola symptoms.
While Samaritan’s Purse did not disclose the exact location of the quarantine, Kenyan media outlets have reported that military tents at Laikipia Air Base — located approximately 185 kilometers, or about 115 miles, north of the capital Nairobi near the town of Nanyuki — were earmarked for the U.S.-backed facility.
Residents near Nanyuki have held multiple protests against the facility in recent weeks. The demonstrations turned deadly, with two people killed during violent clashes.
Neither Kenya’s Ministry of Health nor the U.S. State Department responded to requests for comment regarding whether Americans are currently being quarantined in Kenya. The Laikipia Air Base also could not be reached for comment.
Kenya has no confirmed Ebola cases of its own and is located hundreds of miles east of Congo, with Uganda situated between the two nations. Nevertheless, Kenya is considered a key U.S. partner in Africa, and the United States has committed $13.5 million toward helping Kenya prepare for a potential Ebola outbreak.
Kenyan President William Ruto has publicly supported the planned quarantine facility, calling it part of a broader partnership with the United States and noting that plans exist to build 24 additional Ebola preparedness centers across the country using U.S. funding.
Despite that support, a Kenyan court issued an order last month blocking the facility from becoming operational, and the country’s Health Minister Aden Duale subsequently ordered a halt to its construction.
The legal challenge was brought by the Law Society of Kenya and constitutional advocacy group Katiba Institute, both of which argued that housing Ebola-exposed Americans in Kenya posed a serious risk to the country’s already strained health system.
Katiba Institute’s chief Nora Mbagathi told the Associated Press that the activist groups were alarmed by the latest reports. “Should any Kenyan government official be involved … they have completely betrayed the public trust and must be held personally accountable,” Mbagathi said.
In a statement released Monday, the Law Society of Kenya said that a “deliberate” violation of a court order would amount to “impunity and lawlessness.”
Samaritan’s Purse noted that its staff had been on the front lines of the Ebola response in Congo, where the organization runs two treatment centers in Bunia and Nyankunde.
Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, described the conditions in a statement: “They are being housed in large military tents in a fenced gravel compound, sleeping on military cots, and their food is being provided by the U.S. military.”
Graham did not address questions about why the quarantine facility appears to be operating in Kenya in spite of the existing court order.
