Ruto says US plan to build Ebola facility in Kenya is the ‘right thing’

JOHANNESBURG, June 4 (Reuters) – Kenyan President William Ruto said on Thursday his government had done “the right thing” by allowing the United States to establish an “Ebola quarantine facility” in Kenya.

Satellite images seen by Reuters showed the US government is moving quickly to establish a facility at an air force base in central Kenya, despite protests and Kenyan court orders blocking the facility.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The tented facility in Nanyuki, a town in central Kenya, will house a 50-bed unit for Americans who may have been exposed to the virus that has infected hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak.

The outbreak has also spread to neighboring Uganda, where 16 cases have been reported.

“I can tell you without any fear of contradiction and look everyone in the eye… and tell you we are doing the right thing,” Ruto told a press conference during his official visit to South Africa.

“It would be very unfortunate if we rejected a request from the Americans to set up a facility at their own cost, we would look very inhumane,” Ruto added.

About 0.046 square kilometers, or a block of land measuring 11 acres, has been cleared at Laikipia Air Base since May 27, according to satellite images seen by Reuters.

By June 4, a collection of interconnected white tents had been set up in the middle of the clearing where the asphalt had apparently been laid.

Other structures, excavation equipment and other vehicles can also be seen in the cleared section to the east of the runway.

More flights landed at the air base on Thursday, carrying people and heavy equipment, an eyewitness told Reuters.

At least two people died in protests against the base in Nanyuki earlier this week.

A Kenyan court first ordered the suspension of work at the Ebola facility on May 28. The US embassy in Nairobi said it was working with the Kenyan government to resolve any objections.

(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina; Additional reporting by Noor Ali in Isiolo, George Sargent and Seoyun Kang; Editing by Alexander Winning, David Lewis and Hugh Lawson)