Overview
- Kenya’s High Court found Health Minister Aden Duale in contempt for failing to suspend work on the Laikipia Air Base site and extended the injunction until a substantive hearing on July 23.
- Duale told the court on Tuesday that he had directed an immediate and complete halt to construction and site preparation and was discharged with a warning against further disobedience.
- Independent evidence including recent satellite imagery and flight-tracking showed tents, paved areas and supply flights at the site after the original May suspension order.
- The proposal sparked strong local opposition and protests that turned violent in June, with reports that at least three people were killed during unrest near Laikipia.
- The facility was planned as a roughly 50-bed isolation site to host Americans exposed to the Bundibugyo-strain Ebola outbreak, with about $13–13.5 million pledged by the U.S., and rights groups are challenging the deal over secrecy, safety and consent.