By Edwin Okoth
NANYUKI, Kenya, June 9 (Reuters) – Kenyan police shot dead a protester as hundreds of people staged new demonstrations on Tuesday against a quarantine centre in Kenya for Americans exposed to Ebola, eyewitnesses and a protest leader told Reuters.
Patrick Wahome, who has helped organise protests in the central town of Nanyuki against the facility, and multiple eyewitnesses at the scene said the man died from a gunshot wound to the head. Two Reuters reporters, who did not witness the shooting themselves, saw the body lying motionless with a large wound to the head in the back of a police van.
A police spokesperson said he did not have information about the incident.
“Hooded police officers…. fired live bullets and arbitrarily arrested 19 protesters,” the non-profit Kenya Human Rights Commission said in a statement posted on its X account late on Tuesday.
Officers attacked protesters and journalists, the statement added. Reuters could not independently verify the claims made by the NGO.
The proposed 50-bed unit at the Laikipia Air Base, next to Nanyuki, has angered many Kenyans.
They accuse the U.S. of offloading the risk of caring for those exposed to the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, where there have been more than 500 confirmed cases and 100 confirmed deaths.
Two people were killed in protests last week in Nanyuki.
Early on Tuesday, police began firing tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters. Some waved Kenyan flags and one carried a white cross emblazoned with the phrase “Reject Ebola” in red.
More than 10 protesters were also detained by police, Reuters reporters said.
LAWYER SAYS GOVERNMENT FAILING TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER
Protester Priscilla Imani said the area’s association with the quarantine facility was scaring away tourists who come to climb Mount Kenya or see rhinos.
“Laikipia is not a dumping site,” she told Reuters.
A High Court judge has twice issued orders barring Kenya’s government from taking steps to build or begin operations at the site. Her latest order gave the government one week to disclose all agreements related to the facility.
Joshua Malidzo, a lawyer challenging the quarantine plan, said the court’s deadline expired on Monday without the government complying.
U.S. military planes have continued to ferry in staff and equipment after the court issued its orders, according to U.S. and diplomatic sources and flight tracking data, with several aircraft expected to land this week.
Satellite imagery seen by Reuters shows a build-up of white tents since late May on a roughly 11-acre plot on the air base.
A government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The United States has said it is aware of the court challenge and was “working with the Kenyan government to resolve any objections”.
U.S. SAYS IT WON’T ALLOW ENTRY OF EBOLA CASES
Several U.S. citizens have been exposed to Ebola in eastern Congo and Uganda. Six, including one who tested positive, were moved to a medical facility in Germany last month, while another was taken to the Czech Republic.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will not allow any Ebola cases to enter the U.S.
The Nanyuki facility is designated for Americans who have been exposed to the virus but are still asymptomatic. Kenyan officials have said the facility would also serve Kenyans and foreign nationals, but U.S. officials have not confirmed this.
Many protesters directed their anger at President William Ruto, who last week said his administration was doing “the right thing” by establishing the centre.
(Writing by Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Editing by Aaron Ross, Clarence Fernandez, Aidan Lewis)
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