Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.
The highlights this week: Kenyans prepare for more protests against President William Ruto’s administration, Tanzania seeks to combat a decline in foreign assistance with a bold new budget, and the White House drafts a proposal to buy the Chagos Islands.
Public anger is mounting in Kenya as President William Ruto forms closer ties with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The main target of Kenyans’ ire in recent weeks has been the construction of a U.S. Ebola quarantine facility in the town of Nanyuki, with Ruto’s critics accusing him of capitulating to U.S. interests over those of Kenyan citizens.
This month, protesters clashed with Kenyan police as they demonstrated against the U.S. government-funded facility, intended to house Americans suspected of exposure to Ebola in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the current outbreak is concentrated; South Sudan; or Uganda. Three people were killed, including at least one who was shot dead by the police.
Kenya has never recorded an Ebola case in its territory. The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union denounced the arrangement as a way to turn the country into a “dumping ground” for the United States while Kenya’s own healthcare system struggles with chronic underfunding.
