Two people shot dead amid Kenya protests against US Ebola quarantine centre plan

Two people have been shot dead in the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki amid protests against US plans to establish an Ebola isolation centre at a military base nearby, the BBC has learnt. One of the victims was shot in an area close to the Laikipia Airbase where a demonstration was taking place. The other victim was already dead when he was taken to the hospital by soldiers.

The circumstances of their deaths are not clear, and officials have not commented on the matter. On Monday, hundreds of demonstrators marched through the town’s streets, blocking roads and burning tyres, with police firing tear gas to disperse them. The US plan to establish an Ebola treatment facility in Kenya has sparked public concern about cross-border infection risks.

The 50-bed isolation centre is to be staffed by US medics and is intended to treat US citizens affected by the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last Friday, the High Court said the opening of the centre should be halted after a rights group opened a case alleging the facility posed “grave and imminent risks” to public health. Speaking for the first time about the issue on Monday evening, President William Ruto defended the plan saying that Kenya had “deployed every arsenal” to protect the country. He told journalists that the US government had requested Kenyan support in dealing with the virus, which he had promptly accepted, describing it as a “mutual agreement”.