US troops deployed to Kenya amid protests over Ebola quarantine facility

The U.S. Africa Command sent a forward coordinating element to Laikipia Air Base near Nanyuki, Kenya, to help construct a temporary isolation unit for Americans potentially exposed to the Ebola virus. The team includes engineers, communications and security planners, and medical planners, but will not provide frontline medical care. The facility, overseen by the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, is intended to hold 30‑50 beds for U.S. citizens before they can return to the United States.

Kenyan protests erupted against the plan, with demonstrators fearing the disease could spread to local communities. Police removed barricades, used tear gas and fired on crowds, resulting in three deaths. A spokesman for a Kenyan doctors’ union said, “Kenya is NOT America’s biohazard dumping ground.” The outbreak, declared on May 15, has reported over 689 cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and more than a dozen in Uganda. The United States has barred entry to anyone with Ebola, even U.S. citizens, prompting the need for the Kenyan quarantine site.