US aid workers isolate at Kenya Ebola facility despite court ban

Seven US aid workers are isolating at a controversial Ebola quarantine centre in Kenya that was supposed to be halted, their charity confirmed Friday, with Kenya’s health minister claiming he was unaware.

Three Kenyans have died in violent protests over the creation of the quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, Nairobi.

Kenya has never recorded a case of Ebola and many oppose bringing potential carriers of the highly contagious disease into the country.

A Kenyan court ordered the project to halt and declared health minister Aden Duale in contempt for failing immediately to do so.

However, the State Department said in a statement that several US citizens who had been working with Samaritans Purse in Ebola-hit areas of Democratic Republic of Congo had been taken to the facility.

“All of these American humanitarians are currently asymptomatic and at this time, have not tested positive for Ebola,” the State Department said, adding that they were moved to Kenya “strictly out of an abundance of caution”.

“Kenyan authorities have authorised their movement into the facility,” it added.

But asked by AFP for comment, the Kenyan health minister said simply: “Am not aware.”

Duale told the court on June 23 that he had ordered the “immediate and complete cessation of any intended construction” of the facility.

Samaritan’s Purse said in a statement that seven of its Disaster Assistance Response Team were at the isolation centre.

“They are being housed in large military tents in a fenced-in graveled area, sleeping on military cots, and their food is being provided by the U.S. military,” said the charity’s CEO Franklin Graham in a statement, adding that they were “true American heroes”.

The scale of the anger over the centre came as a shock to the Kenyan and US governments.

Washington has pledged $13.5 million to support Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, but critics also oppose what they see as colonial overtones in the arrangement.

President William Ruto previously said it would be “unfortunate” to refuse the request for the quarantine centre after decades of US health assistance.

The two countries are in the process of finalising a controversial health deal, in which Kenya would hand over reams of health data in exchange for billions of dollars in aid.