Kenyan health minister halts controversial US-backed Ebola site

Kenya has ordered a halt to preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility, the health minister told a court Tuesday after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous stop-work order.

"I have directed the immediate and complete cessation of any intended construction, site preparation, or related activities concerning the Laikipia Air Base facility pending the hearing and determination of the substantive petition or until further orders of this court," health minister Aden Duale said.

The facility at Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometres from Nairobi, was intended to treat or quarantine US citizens evacuated from DR Congo, the epicenter of an ongoing Ebola outbreak. Kenyans have strongly opposed the plan and there have been deadly protests since it was announced last month.

Duale apologised to the court and said he had understood the court order to apply only to Kenya's collaboration with the US, not to the construction of the facility.

"I was driven by a zealous attempt to ensure that public health is always assured," Duale said.

The court accepted Duale's apology and spared him a possible jail sentence. But it issued a warning against any future non-compliance.

Washington has pledged $13.5 million to support Kenya's Ebola preparedness efforts, but critics oppose what they see as colonial overtones in the arrangement.