A Kenyan high court moved swiftly on Friday to suspend a Trump administration plan to quarantine Americans exposed to Ebola at a military air base in the country — blocking the facility on the very day it was scheduled to open. High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi issued orders barring Kenya from establishing or operating any Ebola-related facility under agreements with the United States or other foreign governments, and from admitting anyone exposed to or infected with the virus into the country until the legal challenge is fully heard.
The ruling came just hours before the 50-bed unit at Laikipia Air Base, roughly 125 miles north of Nairobi, was due to become operational. Built by the US military and staffed entirely by American personnel, the facility had been framed by Washington as a faster and safer alternative to flying Ebola-exposed citizens back to the United States on long-haul flights.
A Plan Announced, Then Immediately Challenged
The White House confirmed the facility's existence on Wednesday, describing it as a 'state-of-the-art' setup built, staffed and run by Americans, with no Kenyan public health officers involved. A senior Trump administration official told reporters the unit would receive Americans exposed to but not yet symptomatic with Ebola, with any who fell ill to be evacuated to specialist facilities in Europe, not to the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had publicly stated that the US 'cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter' the country, spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday. The State Department confirmed the US would commit $13.5 million (£10.6 million) toward Kenyan Ebola preparedness efforts as part of the arrangement. The announcement did little to quell the backlash that had already begun building both inside and outside the country.
🔵 for IMMEDIATE RELEASE pic.twitter.com/uLrKgcqW8h
— KMPDU (@kmpdu) May 28, 2026
'If It Is Too Dangerous for America, It Is Too Dangerous for Kenya'
The legal challenge was filed by the Katiba Institute, a Kenyan civil society organisation whose mandate is to defend the country's constitution. The group argued the plan amounted to 'constitutional recklessness' with 'grave public health' implications, citing a lack of transparency and no public participation in the decision. The Law Society of Kenya filed a separate constitutional petition against the proposed facility, though no immediate ruling was issued on that challenge on Friday.
Dr Davji Bhimji Atellah, secretary-general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), which represents more than 10,000 doctors nationwide, was direct in his condemnation. 'We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate,' Atellah said. 'If it is too dangerous for America, it is too dangerous for Kenya.' The union also issued a 48-hour strike notice, threatening nationwide industrial action unless the full terms of the US-Kenya agreement were made public.
Law Society President Charles Kanjama pointed directly at Rubio's own words as evidence of the double standard. 'If America — a first-world country — is apprehensive about the health and safety of their citizens, we're asking the Kenyan government to have the same standard as the American government does,' he said.
BREAKING: A Kenyan court has reportedly BLOCKED the Trump administration’s plan to send Ebola-exposed Americans to a quarantine facility in Kenya instead of bringing them back to the United States.
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) May 30, 2026
And the reaction from Kenya was basically:
“Absolutely not.”
Because from their… pic.twitter.com/EhmPbOA2eI
The Outbreak Driving the Decision
The WHO has recorded a case fatality rate of between 30 and 50 per cent for the Bundibugyo variant. As of 28 May, the DRC Ministry of Health had reported 906 suspected and 125 confirmed cases, with 223 suspected and 17 confirmed deaths across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, according to the ECDC. The virus has also spread into Uganda, where nine confirmed cases and at least one death have been recorded, according to the WHO. Kenya itself has recorded no Ebola cases.
It is that last point that critics found hardest to overlook. 'What makes the US choose Kenya when the epicentre of the outbreak is in (the Democratic Republic of) Congo?' Atellah asked, also questioning why Washington sought to set up a facility specifically for Americans in a country with a chronically underfunded healthcare system.
The Trump administration, for its part, had argued the Kenya facility would allow patients to receive care more quickly, with a senior official stating the plan would enable Americans to get help 'without 12-plus hours of medevac flight time.'
Trump cut the foreign aid that could have contained the Ebola outbreak in the Congo before it spiraled out of control. That outbreak is now the third largest on record, with more than 1,000 cases and over 200 deaths in just 11 days. And instead of bringing exposed Americans home…
— Rep. Mike Levin (@RepMikeLevin) May 29, 2026
What Happens Next
As of Friday, the 50-bed unit at Laikipia sits frozen pending a full court hearing scheduled for 2 June. More than 30 US Public Health Service personnel had already trained in Washington for three days and departed for Kenya on Wednesday night ahead of what was meant to be a Friday launch, according to US officials. The Kenyan government, which had publicly acknowledged only that it was in discussions with Washington on Ebola preparedness without directly addressing the quarantine facility, now has 48 hours to formally respond to the Katiba Institute's petition following service of the court order.
The standoff over the Laikipia facility reflects a broader tension in how wealthier nations manage infectious disease risk during outbreaks in less-resourced regions. Critics argue the plan signals a willingness to export public health risk to a country with a strained healthcare system in order to shield American citizens and avoid domestic political fallout — a charge the Trump administration has not directly addressed. With the Bundibugyo strain carrying a mortality rate of between 30 and 50 per cent, the outcome of the 2 June hearing carries implications well beyond the 50-bed unit currently sitting empty at Laikipia.
