Kenya defies court order, flies 7 US doctors to new Ebola quarantine facility

In Kenya, US doctors who treated Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo were recently flown to a Kenyan quarantine center — despite a court ban.

Published: July 20, 2026 — 1:48 PM

Security forces after protests against the US Ebola facility in Laikipia in June 2026. Photo: Lucas Mukasa/Anadolu Agency/imago

By Simone Schlindwein, from Kampala

Satellite images clearly show rows of white tents on a separate area adjacent to the Kenyan Laikipia Air Base, approximately 200 kilometers north of Nairobi. In June, the US government announced plans to build a quarantine center with 50 beds and a state-of-the-art Ebola treatment facility there — exclusively for US citizens who become infected with the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last week, the US government announced new travel restrictions for US citizens who have traveled to the DR Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan — countries where Ebola is confirmed or suspected. Under these rules, all US citizens must first quarantine for 21 days in another country outside the Ebola zone before boarding a flight to the United States.

The plan was to use the Ebola facility in Kenya, funded with $13 million by the US government. However, in June, Kenyans took to the streets en masse to protest the facility. Days-long protests in Laikipia and Nairobi were brutally suppressed by Kenyan police.

The human rights organization Katiba Institute took the matter to court — and succeeded. In June, the court issued an expedited order halting construction and summoned Kenya's Health Minister Aden Duale to disclose agreements with the US government and explain how the deal was reached. A final ruling is expected on Thursday this week. The court expressly warned Duale not to proceed with construction before the ruling.

Disregarded Order

The court order was apparently ignored entirely.

"Seven employees of the American disaster relief team from Samaritan's Purse are in the isolation center in Kenya," Franklin Graham, chairman of the evangelical US aid organization Samaritan's Purse, confirmed in an email to taz on Sunday.

"None of them show symptoms, yet they were placed under quarantine by the Kenyan government for 21 days," Graham said. He confirmed that the employees are housed in large military tents on a fenced, graveled site, sleeping on camp beds, and being fed by the US military.

A satellite image shows the US Ebola facility in Laikipia. Photo: Pleiades CNES 2026, Distribution Airbus DS/Handout via Reuters

Katiba described the accommodation of the American doctors in Kenya as an "absolute scandal" in a statement over the weekend, calling it a "blatant and dangerous disregard for the existing orders of the High Court." The organization further stated: "Any Kenyan government official who approved, facilitated, or ignored this blatant violation of court orders has broken their oath of office and deeply abused the public's trust."

Kenya's daily newspaper The Nation quoted an unnamed diplomat from the US State Department in an article on Sunday as saying: "The Kenyan authorities approved their transfer to the facility under the supervision of doctors from the US health authority."

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