Mother finds son's body two days after Kenya protests over Ebola quarantine centre

The mother of a Kenyan teenager found her son's body in a mortuary two days after he went missing during violent protests against a planned US Ebola quarantine centre.

Lucy Kagure located the body of 17-year-old Sylvester Muigai Ndung'u at a mortuary in the central town of Nanyuki on Thursday. He had been killed on Tuesday in clashes between police and demonstrators opposing the construction of a 50-bed isolation unit at the nearby Laikipia Air Base.

Kagure told the BBC that when she found him, "half of his head had been split open" and his clothes were soaked in blood. Witnesses said Muigai had been shot in the head, but local police commander Daniel Kitavi said authorities were awaiting a post-mortem to determine the cause of death. Family members said police suggested he may have been killed by a tear-gas canister rather than a bullet.

Kagure said her son left home on Tuesday to collect his school uniform from his aunt and got caught up in the unrest. She accused police of using "too much force" and broke down in tears asking, "Are they not parents too?" Muigai is the third person to die in protests against the quarantine centre, which is intended for US citizens affected by the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The plan has sparked public concern about cross-border infection risks and lack of government transparency. The High Court last month ordered a halt to the opening of the facility, but satellite imagery shows construction has continued. Kenya's President William Ruto defended the plan, calling a refusal "inhuman" and urging Kenyans not to politicise Ebola.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission accused police of using excessive force, including live ammunition and arbitrary arrests during the protests. The mourning mother now demands justice for her son.