Kenyan President William Ruto yesterday defended the opening of an Ebola quarantine center for US nationals after a court halted the plan and security forces teargassed protesters fearing the deadly virus could spread in the country.
The US-built facility at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base was due to open last week according to US officials, to quarantine Americans arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), which is battling a major Ebola outbreak.
The center — about 200km from the capital, Nairobi — was set to have 50 isolation beds and be managed by US medical staff.
Photo: EPA
Violent protests broke out near the facility on Monday amid anger at the US using Kenyan soil and bringing Ebola patients to the country. They were met with tear gas from police. Police, emergency services and the Red Cross could not confirm reports of deaths during the protests. The Red Cross said they had only heard of two injuries.
In a post on X yesterday, Ruto wrote that the proposed US facility was “neither unique nor exceptional but part of a broader national preparedness system,” adding that it “will be there to serve the people of Kenya and to serve our friends, including the Americans.”
On Monday, he said: “I can assure the people of Kenya that the agreement between the government of Kenya and the American government is for the good of our country and for the partnership.”
“Why anybody would want to politicize, to mobilize negative politics on a matter so serious as a pandemic?” he said. “We are a responsible government. We know what we are doing. So people should relax.”
Kenya has recorded no case of Ebola, despite widespread testing of arrivals, but neighboring Uganda has registered 11 cases, including one death.
However, the High Court yesterday extended a temporary halt to the plan, said rights group Katiba Institute, which last week filed a petition claiming it was being established unilaterally and in secret.
The court said the government had seven days to “disclose all agreements” relating to the facility.
A small group of protesters yesterday gathered in central Nairobi, wearing white protective gear and carrying a coffin emblazoned with “Ebola” and placards reading: “Reject Ebola in Kenya.”
There have been more than 1,000 suspected cases of Ebola in the DR Congo since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including nearly 250 deaths, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday last week.
One US citizen, a medical missionary working in the DR Congo, has contracted Ebola so far.
He was evacuated and is receiving treatment in Germany.
The Democrats House Foreign Affairs Committee condemned the quarantine center, writing in a post on X: “The Trump admin should bring Americans home and help them, not outsource that responsibility to a foreign government.”
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS