Protests against US Ebola facility in Kenya highlight Africa’s growing resistance to Trump-era deals

“Kenya is not an American colony! »

That’s the slogan that resonated in Nairobi and other Kenyan cities last week as furious protesters expressed anger over plans to create a U.S.-funded isolation ward for Americans exposed to Ebola abroad.

This controversial proposal has raised fears of the arrival of the Ebola virus in a country which has never recorded a single case of this often fatal disease. The nearest outbreaks are spreading more than 2,400 kilometers away, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Ebola was first detected, and in neighboring Uganda.

Critics say the facility would expose Kenya to risks the United States would not accept on its own soil. Despite a court order halting construction of the district pending a legal challenge, Kenya’s government – ​​which recently signed a $1.6 billion health deal with the United States – continued to support the project, fueling public backlash.

President William Ruto defended the move, saying it would be “very inhumane” for Kenya to reject a US-funded facility after years of US aid.

However, Ruto’s former deputy Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached in 2024, told CNN the plan exposed double standards by the US and should be resisted.

“We find it unpleasant that if Americans are not willing to take care of their own patients in their own country because it poses a risk to the rest of the population, they decide that it can be done in Kenya,” Gachagua said. “We find it unfair, we find it a double standard and we are totally opposed to it. »

He added that the deal was “totally insensitive” and placed U.S. interests above Kenyan concerns.

The controversy reflects a broader trend across Africa, where countries are increasingly opposing what critics describe as Washington’s transactional approach under President Donald Trump and deals seen as favoring U.S. interests.

Much of this reluctance stems from changes in Washington’s approach to Africa.

Upon returning to office last year, Trump suspended almost all foreign aid and canceled thousands of aid contracts. The move marked the beginning of the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting vital funding for health and humanitarian aid around the world – including in Africa, one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid.

For decades, U.S. funding has supported the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis across the continent. Today, those programs are being replaced by Trump’s “America First global health strategy,” which prioritizes direct deals with individual countries. Washington says the goal is to reduce reliance on aid while advancing U.S. interests.

But as aid gives way to deal-making, questions are growing about what African countries are expected to offer in return.

The United States has signed new health agreements with at least 16 African countries, but some have stalled due to disagreements over their terms.

Last month, Zambian Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said his country was reluctant to agree to a proposed $2 billion health package because it required “preferential treatment of U.S. companies over Zambia’s essential minerals” as well as “data sharing in violation of our citizens’ right to privacy.”

Zambia is a leading producer of copper, a key material used in renewable energy, electric vehicles and power grids.

Haimbe’s comments followed criticism from outgoing U.S. Ambassador Michael Gonzales, who accused Zambian leaders of relying on U.S.-funded health care while not investing enough themselves.

Gonzales denied that Washington was linking health care support to access to essential minerals. However, he also said that “going forward, the benefits of our relationship must be mutual.”

Zambia is not alone. Similar concerns have emerged elsewhere on the continent.

Zimbabwe and Ghana have also opposed proposed multimillion-dollar deals that include health data sharing requirements.

“We need unconditional partnerships,” Ghana’s Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, told reporters last month.

In Zimbabwe, government spokesman Nick Mangwana said the country “was being asked to share biological resources and data over the long term, without any guarantee of access to the resulting vaccines or treatments” or reciprocity from Washington.

“Development assistance should empower nations, not create dependencies or serve as a vehicle for strategic extraction,” Mangwana wrote in a blog post in February.

Peace agreements and mining interests

These concerns extend beyond health partnerships and also affect the mining and critical minerals sector.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), critics question whether Washington’s diplomatic efforts to end decades of conflict in the mineral-rich east are motivated by genuine security concerns. The region is home to some of the world’s largest deposits of coltan, used in smartphones and other electronic devices.

Victor Tesongo, a social rights activist and senior member of the AFC rebel coalition fighting Congolese forces, told CNN that the United States cannot be seen as neutral while also seeking access to the DRC’s strategic resources.

Those concerns grew after Trump hosted DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington in December to sign a peace deal aimed at ending the conflict.

Tesongo called the deal a resource grab.

“The Trump plan has nothing to do with security or peacemaking; it’s more about plundering Congolese resources,” he said. “The proof is that after the signing in the United States, the situation has not changed; the fighting continues.”

The United States maintains that its engagement is aimed at promoting regional security.

Taken together, the disputes in Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe and the DRC suggest a broader shift in how African countries engage their external partners.

According to Solomon Dersso, founding director of the pan-African policy think tank Amani Africa, the United States’ pursuit of its own strategic interests is nothing new. The difference, he says, is that it now happens “in a more open and unpretentious way.”

For Chitimbwa Chifunda, Oxfam’s Zambian director in southern Africa, the change highlights the need for African countries to become less dependent on foreign aid.

“The era of waiting for aid is disappearing,” she said, adding that recent negotiations show that African governments are increasingly willing to respond and defend their interests.

Simon Mulongo, former African Union special envoy to Somalia and the Sahel, sees the same trend and says the debate is no longer about whether Africa should partner with world powers, but under what conditions.

“African states are no longer willing to quietly divest strategic assets under the guise of aid, partnership or emergency support,” he told CNN, adding that “health cooperation should not become a back door to the extraction of citizen data” and security partnerships “should not become a pathway to mineral capture.”

“This is not isolationism. It is a demand for fair exchange.”

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