Kenya has suspended preparations for a U.S.-run Ebola quarantine facility, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale told a court on Tuesday, following a contempt ruling for failing to comply with an earlier stop-work order.
The move comes as a relief to a section of Kenyans who had strongly opposed the plan.
Deadly protests have taken place since the facility was announced in May for potential U.S. citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a major Ebola outbreak.
The facility has been built at Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometres from the capital, Nairobi. It includes around 50 isolation beds and was expected to be managed by U.S. medical staff.
Kenya’s government had previously ignored a High Court order to halt work on the site.
Rights groups petitioned the court, arguing that the facility was being developed secretly and without public consultation. On Monday, the court ruled that Duale was in contempt for failing to comply with its order and directed him to appear for sentencing.
He appeared in court on Tuesday and apologised, stating: “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.”
Three people have been killed in unrest near the facility in Laikipia. Kenya has never recorded a case of Ebola, and many oppose bringing potential carriers of the highly contagious disease into the country.
The United States has also pledged $13.5 million to support Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, but critics have opposed what they view as colonial undertones in the arrangement.
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