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

Kenyans have strongly opposed the plan and deadly protests have taken place since the facility was announced in May for potential US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a major Ebola outbreak.

The centre at Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, is largely completed, with some 50 isolation beds to be manned by US medical staff.

Rights groups petitioned the high court, saying the facility was being developed secretly and without consultation, but Kenya’s Government ignored a court order to pause work on the site.

On Monday, the court said Health Minister Aden Duale was held in contempt for failing to respond to the order. Appearing in court on Tuesday, he expressed regret and was pardoned.

“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,” he told the court.

However, he defended the plan, saying the fear of Ebola spreading outside the military base was “scientifically unfounded”, and that it could have also been used for Kenyan soldiers serving in the DRC.

The scale of the unrest had come as a shock to the Kenyan and US Governments, with three people killed in two separate days of unrest in Laikipia this month.

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

Washington has avoided comment on the issue. In a short post on X in May, the State Department said it was “optimistic we can resolve objections”.

President William Ruto previously said it would be “unfortunate” to refuse the request for the quarantine centre after decades of US health assistance.

The two countries are in the process of finalising a controversial health deal, in which Kenya would hand over reams of health data in exchange for billions of dollars in aid.