Kenyan confirmed dead in demo over US Ebola centre: rights group

A Kenyan protester shot in the head during violent protests over an Ebola quarantine centre for US citizens has been confirmed dead, a human rights group told AFP on Tuesday.

The centre at Laikipia Air Base in the town of Nanyuki, under the shadow of Mount Kenya, is designed to quarantine Americans arriving from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is battling a major Ebola outbreak.

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

There were running battles around Nanyuki on Tuesday, with protesters lighting fires and throwing stones at police, who responded with teargas and water cannons, AFP journalists saw.

Gunshots were heard and AFP saw one man lying motionless after being shot in the head. The Red Cross said another person was injured by a teargas cannister.

“His death is confirmed. We are waiting for his family,” Hussein Khalid, director of the NGO Vocal Africa, said of the victim.

Dozens were arrested, including by armed police in plain clothes, AFP saw.

“Laikipia isn’t a dumping site… I’m not happy about the US decision that they’re going to build a quarantine (centre) in our country,” said protester Priscilla Waimani, 47, wrapped in a Kenyan flag.

The centre is due to have 50 isolation beds and be managed by US staff. It was nearing completion late last week.

Work has continued despite a temporary suspension order from Kenya’s High Court and opposition from local politicians in Laikipia.

President William Ruto’s government has vowed to press ahead with the facility, saying it owes Washington for years of aid support.

The United States has also pledged $13.5 million to Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts.

But there is anger at the neo-colonial overtones of the United States refusing to allow Ebola patients into its own territory but being happy to send them to Kenya.