Overview
- Security forces clashed with thousands of protesters in Nanyuki on Tuesday, using tear gas, water cannon and warning shots as eyewitnesses and EFE reported at least one person killed, another injured and dozens detained.
- Kenya’s Supreme Court has temporarily halted construction of the U.S.-funded isolation facility and demanded President William Ruto publish the full agreement with the United States.
- The planned facility is described in reporting as a U.S.-funded quarantine and treatment site meant to host U.S. citizens exposed to Ebola; Kenyan authorities say it will boost regional health security.
- Opponents, including former vice president Rigathi Gachagua and rights groups, say the plan was negotiated in secret, risks importing disease to a country with no Ebola cases, and shows U.S. deal-based health diplomacy that many African officials now resist.
- The dispute echoes broader regional pushback — for example Zambia’s public refusal of a proposed U.S. health package over data and commercial terms — and could change how African states demand transparency and safeguards in future health deals.