Several Kenyans protesting against an Ebola quarantine centre being built for US citizens in Nanyuki, Nairobi were arrested in the latest protests held on Tuesday.
The centre at Laikipia Air Base in the tourist town of Nanyuki, will be used to quarantine Americans arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the latest Ebola outbreak.
Dozens of protesters gathered near the air base, some wearing protective equipment and carrying a coffin with “Ebola” written on it.
CliqMetro gathered that several protesters where arrested by police, who also fired tear gas to disperse the small crowds. The centre which will have 50 isolation beds and will be managed by US staff, is expected to be completed late next week.
Construction work on the facility was hated a temporarily after an order from Kenya’s High Court. The project has also been opposed by local politicians in Laikipia.
Rights groups said two people died in an earlier protest held last week though the circumstances of their deaths remain unclear.
Though the East African nation has no record of any Ebola case yet, many oppose the idea of bringing potential carriers of the highly contagious disease into the country.
The Kenyan government has vowed to press ahead, saying it owes Washington for years of aid support.
“The American people and government have been partners with us on matters of health for close to 25-30 years. “It would be most unfortunate if on one request by the Americans to set up a facility at their cost, we would refuse. We would look very inhuman,” President William Ruto said last week.
Kenya’s health minister insist the facility will be for Kenyans as well as Americans.
Washington has pledged $13.5 million to Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts following a controversial health deal between the two countries last year, in which Kenya agreed to hand over vast amounts of health data to the US in exchange for billions of dollars in aid.
The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has seen 515 confirmed infections, including 91 deaths.
On Saturday June 6, the World Health Organisation confirmed that Ebola cases in central Africa had risen to nearly 500, as concerns grow that the outbreak could become one of the largest in history.
A 2014 outbreak of the virus in West Africa infected more than 28,000 people and killed over 11,000, the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record. The current outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain was officially declared on May 15 in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.