Kenya

Moyale, Kenya – When Hawa Hassan fled her home in Ethiopia’s Moyale area, she left almost everything behind. Her house was burned during the violence, she said. But one memory has stayed with her: a 13-year-old girl shot while sitting near a wall.

Hassan said the girl had not touched a flag, a detail she raised while describing tensions over flag displays in the disputed border area. Her account of the killing could not be independently verified.

The journey into Kenya was brutal. Hassan told Al Jazeera that some women gave birth while fleeing, and that families arrived without food, cooking utensils or bedding. Newborn babies were sleeping on bare floors. Diarrhoea was spreading, while families feared malaria as mosquitoes multiplied.

For many, crossing the border has meant escaping gunfire only to face another struggle: finding food and shelter. The arrivals are also stretching Kenyan communities. Families that opened their homes are sharing scarce supplies, even as some worry the violence could reach their own neighbourhoods.

A crisis growing by the day

A government-led assessment conducted on October 29 and 30 estimated that 35,950 people had been displaced as of October 24. About 25,000 were staying with host families and nearly 11,000 in temporary displacement sites.

The number has since risen. During a meeting, Kenya Red Cross regional head Malik Adan said the number of people displaced by the conflict had increased from an estimated 36,000 to more than 50,000. The figure includes people living in temporary settlements as well as those staying with relatives and host families.

The overall number of displaced people has yet to be independently established, and no final figure has been confirmed.

The assessment covered 758 households and involved government authorities, United Nations agencies, the Kenya Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations. The figures reflect different reporting periods.

The fighting is rooted in a long-standing dispute over land and administrative control between Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regional administrations. Tensions escalated around October 18 over the raising of the Somali regional flag in the disputed Moyale area, reflecting competing claims over territory and authority.

For those arriving in Kenya, the politics are secondary to the immediate question of where they will sleep and what they will feed their children.

Aid stretched on both sides

Mwasaru Mercy, Kenya’s acting commissioner for refugee affairs, told Al Jazeera that a multi-agency government team had been deployed to Moyale. The Department of Refugee Services is coordinating with local authorities and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

But gunfire could still be heard, Mercy said, raising fears of further displacement. Many arrivals need food, shelter, bedding and mosquito nets.

“There are no contingency food stocks specifically for this incident because it happened abruptly,” Mercy said.

Authorities are trying to mobilise humanitarian organisations and donors. A refugee camp has not been established because the security situation must improve first. The government is working with UNHCR to register arrivals and assess their needs.

Those affected include Ethiopians fleeing violence, traders, and Kenyans forced from their homes by stray ammunition, Mercy said.

Fatima Mohammed Cole, UNHCR’s representative in Kenya, said many arrivals were women and children. Families are spread across several locations, including six sites hosting Ethiopians. They need shelter, food and healthcare, while crowded conditions raise concerns about the spread of disease.

Cole said gunfire was still being heard in Moyale and appealed for a ceasefire that would allow families to return home.

The response is also under way inside Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Red Cross Society said it had provided emergency shelter and household items worth about 30 million Ethiopian birr ($182,970) to 1,000 households displaced from Moyale town and surrounding areas.

The supplies included 2,000 tarpaulins, blankets and sleeping mats, as well as dignity kits, jerrycans, kitchen sets, soap and solar lamps. Distribution was under way, the organisation said. The operation is separate from assistance in Kenya.

Host communities under pressure

In Kenya, residents who initially opened their doors are finding it harder to keep going.

Abdi Maalim, a member of the Moyale Cross-Border Peace Committee, told Al Jazeera that some Kenyan families had moved further inland after bullets and heavy weapons landed close to their homes. He called for more border patrols to prevent armed groups from crossing into Kenya.

Families that once cooked for five or six people are now feeding 20 or 30.

Moyale’s role as a trading point between Kenya and Ethiopia has added to the strain. Maalim said trucks carrying goods between Mombasa and Addis Ababa had been stranded near the border for almost two weeks. Kenyan trucks were also stuck in Ethiopia, and businesses in Moyale had slowed sharply.

Bank closures have disrupted the circulation of the Ethiopian birr. Traders reported price rises of about 20 percent as supplies became harder to move.

Fears of wider instability

Security analyst Dr Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad told Al Jazeera that the clashes had grown beyond a local dispute over territory, exposing deeper ethnic divisions and political competition between Ethiopia’s regional administrations.

He said perceptions of Oromo expansionism and allegations of federal government support for Oromia’s regional leadership risked deepening mistrust. He warned that armed fighters crossing the border, stray bullets and further displacement made this a Kenyan security concern as well as a refugee emergency.

Kenya’s Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, said additional officers would be deployed along the border to strengthen security. During a visit to Moyale on November 5, he said Kenya was engaging Ethiopia’s federal government to help end the conflict.

Kanja said about 10,000 people were staying in temporary shelters and public institutions, while others had been taken in by host families. He said one Kenyan had died after being hit by a stray bullet, while a police report indicated that an Ethiopian man had also died from gunshot wounds sustained in Kenya.

The 10,000 figure refers to people in temporary shelters and public institutions, not the total number displaced. It is not directly comparable with the Red Cross estimate of more than 50,000, which includes people staying with host families.

Hassan wants to return home, but only when it is safe. Until then, she and thousands of others depend on host communities and humanitarian agencies. The longer the fighting continues, the harder it will be for those communities to keep absorbing the cost.

Maalim said residents had already stretched their resources to accommodate the new arrivals.

“Previously, we were supplying this town alone. Now we are literally taking care of two towns together,” he told Al Jazeera.

Authorities ​are struggling to find a way to control the outbreak, with no approved treatments or vaccines.

The death ⁠toll ⁠from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has surpassed 5,000, government data ⁠show, with authorities yet to find a way to control the ⁠country’s deadliest outbreak of the virus on record.

The latest death toll was announced on Friday.

Ebola has infected more than 10,000 people in the DRC since the outbreak was declared in May.

There are no approved treatments or vaccines to combat the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, responsible for the ongoing outbreak.

Delayed detection, conflict and strained health services have helped the virus spread more rapidly than in past outbreaks, reaching eight of the DRC’s 26 provinces to date.

The virus has spread to neighbouring countries as well.

Last week, Nigeria became the fourth African country to report an Ebola case, extending the outbreak’s geographic ‌spread to West Africa. East African countries Kenya and Uganda have also reported cases.

This year’s Ebola outbreak is the second-largest ever, behind only the 2014-2016 epidemic that infected more than 28,600 people and killed more than ⁠11,000 people across Guinea, Liberia ⁠and Sierra Leone.

Some governments have been restricting travel to affected countries or quarantining travellers who have recently visited or transited through them.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia suspended travel to and entry from Kenya, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The measures include suspending travel by Saudi citizens to Kenya and a pause on issuing all types of visas to travellers from the country.

The kingdom is also prohibiting entry to travellers arriving from Kenya, including those transiting through third countries who have stayed in Kenya or other Ebola-affected countries within the previous 21 days.

In June, Saudi Arabia suspended travel to and entry from the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will cohost the next AFCON in 2027, with subsequent tournaments in 2028, 2031 and 2033.

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be held every two years, not four as was planned, governing body the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced after reversing an earlier decision.

AFCON has traditionally been staged every two years, but CAF’s surprise decision last December to move to a four-year cycle was not widely welcomed.

“The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee today unanimously decided that the CAF Africa Cup of Nations will return to taking place every Two Years,” CAF said in a statement.

Under the previous plan, AFCON would have moved to a four-year cycle, with the proposed CAF Nations League becoming the continent’s biennial competition.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe said at a strategy conference in Cape Verde earlier this month that the organisation was considering returning AFCON to a two-year cycle.

CAF said the Nations League would take years to generate enough revenue to sustain African football.

“The decision by the CAF Executive Committee to reinstate the organization of the AFCON every two years aims to advance, protect and promote the interests of African football and the 54 CAF Member Associations, as well as those of African players playing for clubs outside the continent,” Motsepe said in a statement.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will cohost the next edition in 2027, with subsequent tournaments to be held in 2028, 2031 and 2033.

There will be no AFCON in 2030, with CAF maintaining its tradition of not staging the tournament in a World Cup year.

Nairobi, Kenya – For more than four decades, the World Athletics Championships have been held across continents but never in Africa.

That changes in 2029, when Nairobi becomes the first African city to host the track and field championships, bringing the sport’s flagship global competition to a continent whose athletes have helped shape its history.

The World Athletics Championships were established in 1983 in Helsinki, Finland, after decades in which athletics’ biggest global competitions were largely tied to the Olympic Games. The inaugural championships brought together 1,333 athletes from 153 countries, laying the foundation for one of the most important events on the international sporting calendar.

Africa’s relationship with athletics stretches much further back. Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila became the first African to win Olympic marathon gold in 1960, followed by generations of track and field athletes including Uganda’s John Akii-Bua, Morocco’s Said Aouita and a succession of Kenyan champions.

Kenya’s own story is particularly significant. Kipchoge Keino’s 1,500-metre triumph at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics helped establish Kenya as a global distance-running powerhouse. Generations that followed – from Paul Tergat and David Rudisha to Eliud Kipchoge, Vivian Cheruiyot, Hellen Obiri and Faith Kipyegon – have turned Kenyan athletics into a global sporting identity.

Kenya is the second most successful nation in World Athletics Championships history.

For Keino, the two-time Olympic champion and former world record holder whose achievements helped establish Kenya’s reputation in distance running, Nairobi’s selection represents the culmination of decades of progress.

“When we started running, we were young Kenyans with a dream to represent our country and show the world that African athletes could compete at the highest level. Seeing Kenya prepare to host the World Athletics Championships in 2029 is a deeply special moment,” Keino told Al Jazeera.

“It is a testament to how far our country has come from sending athletes abroad to compete, to welcoming the world to our own home.”

Keino said hosting the championships would also give Kenya an opportunity to showcase its talent, culture and hospitality while investing in the future of athletics.

How did Kenya win the bid?

Kenya’s campaign to host the 2029 championships lasted three years and culminated in victory at the World Athletics Council meeting in Budapest on September 15 .

Competing bids came from London, Rome and Munich, all cities with established records of hosting major international athletics events.

Nairobi’s bid highlighted the ongoing renovation of Kasarani stadium ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, as well as Kenya’s experience hosting the 2017 World U18 Championships and the 2021 World U20 junior Championships. Kenya also drew lessons from its unsuccessful bid for the 2025 championships, which was awarded to Tokyo.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said the council had received four strong bids and described Nairobi’s proposal as “compelling and emotional”.

“Nairobi and Munich ultimately presented two compelling propositions. They offer very different but equally exciting opportunities for our sport, and I am delighted that we can now begin working with both cities to stage two world-class championships,” Coe said.

Athletics Kenya declined to comment on the decision.

Doping questions return

The celebrations were quickly accompanied by questions over whether Kenya can host an event of this scale while dealing with persistent scrutiny over doping in athletics.

Since the international sport governing body World Athletics established the Athletics Integrity Unit in 2017, 318 Kenyan athletes have been sanctioned for anti-doping rule violations, according to figures reported following the announcement. Of those, 136 were still serving bans.

Kenya is not among the countries with the highest overall number of anti-doping violations globally, but its prominence in distance running means high-profile cases often attract considerable international attention.

Kenya’s anti-doping system has also faced scrutiny. In 2025, the World Anti-Doping Agency found Kenya’s anti-doping agency non-compliant with the global anti-doping code, putting additional scrutiny on the country’s system. Kenya was removed from the agency’s compliance watchlist in 2026 after corrective measures.

Recent cases, including the bans of marathon world-record holder Ruth Chepngetich and former half-marathon world-record holder Kibiwott Kandie, have kept the issue in the spotlight.

For Nairobi, the challenge will be to demonstrate that its anti-doping systems are strong enough to protect the credibility of the 2029 championships.

Kenyan Member of Parliament Dan Wanyama, who chairs the committee on sports and culture, said the country has the experience and infrastructure to host the event.

“We have already held several athletics championships which were very successful. It is a thing of pride for us to defeat major global cities London, Munich and Rome,” Wanyama told Al Jazeera.

“As the chair of the sports committee in Parliament, I can assure you we have the right infrastructure in place because the championship will be held at Moi International Sports Stadium (known locally as Kasarani). The contractor is already on site and preparations have started in earnest.”

Kenyan athletics fan Winston Omondi said some of the criticism of Kenya was unfairly focused on the country.

“If it was about doping, then there are so many developed countries that should not even be participating in athletics, including London itself,” Omondi told Al Jazeera.

More than one stadium

Doping is not the only test facing Kenya.

As the country prepares to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations with sporting infrastructure being upgraded at Kasarani and Nyayo stadiums, the World Athletics Championships will require more than a competition venue.

Nairobi will have to ensure adequate training and warm-up facilities while improving transport links, accommodation and athlete services. The city will also need reliable systems for security, accreditation, broadcasting, medical care and the movement of thousands of athletes, officials, journalists and spectators.

Beyond the stadiums, Nairobi’s wider infrastructure will come under scrutiny, particularly its traffic congestion and public transport network.

The success of the championships will therefore depend on more than upgrading Kasarani. Kenya will have to demonstrate that Nairobi can deliver a seamless experience for a global sporting event while maintaining the standards expected of one of athletics’ biggest competitions.

For a country whose athletes have spent decades representing Africa on the world stage, hosting the championships is a historic opportunity. It is also a test of whether a continent that has produced generations of world-class athletes can host the sport’s biggest global events on its own ground.

But winning the bid was only the first race.

As Omondi put it: “We have come so far as people, as a country and as a continent for us to be judged in this way.”

Trade and security are expected to be on the agenda as delegations and leaders from dozens of African countries gather in Moscow for a two-day summit with Russia.

The third instalment of the Russia-Africa Summit will run through October 28–29 and will be chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the current African Union chair, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye.

Russia has boosted security and trade cooperation with African nations as it grapples with Western sanctions imposed in response to its war against Ukraine.

So who will be attending and what is at stake?

Here’s what we know.

What is the Russia-Africa Summit?

The Russia-Africa Summit is a two-day diplomatic and economic meeting being held in Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday.

Leaders and delegations from 48 African countries are meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation spanning politics, defence and technology.

This high-profile forum is the third of its kind. The first summit took place in October 2019 in Sochi, marking an unprecedented turn in Russian-African relations.

What’s on the agenda for the summit?

The event’s official theme is Developing Mutually Beneficial Cooperation and “unlocking the potential of every African country”.

More than 40 sessions and about 100 speakers will cover trade, investment, technology transfer, food and energy security, healthcare, education and youth exchange.

There will also be a business programme, culminating in a plenary session.

Who is attending?

Representatives from 48 African countries will participate, as well as 22 heads of state, according to Kremlin presidential aide Yury Ushakov. Heads of state from 17 countries attended the last summit in 2023.

Fewer leaders came to the last two summits, compared with the first gathering in 2019, when 43 took part, a decline which Moscow blamed on Western pressure.

Russian President Putin is scheduled to meet with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

The guest list includes leaders closely tied to Russia’s growing security role in Africa, including Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traore and Niger’s Abdourahamane Tchiani.

Kenya’s William Ruto, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Namibia’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndatiwah are also expected, as well as Sudan’s Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed al-Menfi, the chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya.

What is the relationship between Russia and Africa like?

Russia has gained far more influence in Africa through security than trade, according to a report by the African Security Analysis group (ASA), a security consultancy.

Russia’s security presence has risen significantly in the region. In 2023, Russian forces, mostly from the Wagner Group, operated in only a few African countries, but the ASA now counts Russian missions or troops in at least nine countries.

Trade between African countries and Russia has exceeded $28bn. It was estimated to be about $16.8bn in 2019, when the first summit was held. But trade is mainly concentrated in a few countries and overshadowed by that of China and the European Union.

Russia’s strongest ties to the continent are in energy, fertilisers, defence and nuclear power, where the state-owned firm Rosatom has signed a string of agreements.

Russia has been an essential supplier of fertilisers and wheat to many countries in the region.

In 2023, Russia exported 200,000 tonnes of grain to Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Eritrea and Zimbabwe. 

Why does this summit matter?

This is the first summit since 2023, so it will be an indicator of how far the relationship has developed and where it is heading, analysts say.

A final declaration and a Russia-Africa Partnership Forum plan should be adopted by the end of the Summit to cover 2027-2029.

Analysts have said that meetings on the sidelines could be more important than the main event, as talks between African delegations and Russian defence officials can illustrate where Moscow plans to expand its military ties.

The recruitment of Africans to fight in Ukraine could also be a growing problem for Moscow, as it has already caused diplomatic concern in countries such as Kenya.

Amnesty International has used the run-up to the summit to raise the issue of Africans being recruited to fight with Russia.

In an open letter, the directors of Amnesty’s African section urged leaders attending the summit to demand that Moscow end what the group describes as deceptive and coercive recruitment of Africans to fight in its war in Ukraine.

Church mourners die on Kenya’s Nairobi-Mombasa Highway weeks after another crash killed 17 people.

A bus carrying mourners has collided with a truck on a major highway in southeastern Kenya, killing at least 24 people, police say.

The crash happened in the Kanga area near Mtito Andei, on the road linking the capital, Nairobi, to the coastal city of Mombasa, at about 7:45am (04:45 GMT) on Sunday, October 25.

Another 24 people were injured, hospital officials said.

The deaths came just over three weeks after another crash on the highway killed 17 people, prompting fresh government promises to improve road safety.

The bus belonged to Power of the Word Church International in Mombasa and was taking passengers home from their pastor’s funeral in western Kenya.

They had stopped for breakfast shortly before the collision, according to one survivor.

The other vehicle was a truck transporting cement.

Violet Mwandonyi, who survived the crash, told the Associated Press on Sunday that she remembered passengers crying out for passing motorists to help.

She said she did not know what had happened to her two children, who had been travelling on the bus.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Makueni County Commissioner Abdullahi Khalif, the government’s senior administrator in the area, told Kenyan newspaper The Standard that the bus driver had tried to overtake several vehicles before colliding with an oncoming truck.

Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) also identified dangerous overtaking as a possible cause. Another survivor said the truck struck the bus from behind.

On October 3, a crash involving several vehicles killed 17 people, most of them Catholic pilgrims travelling to a prayer site, near Salama on the same highway.

Police said a truck driver had tried to overtake another truck before the collision.

The NTSA had identified that stretch of road as an area with a history of crashes.

President William Ruto offered condolences on Sunday and ordered inspections of vehicles used for public transport.

Transport Minister Davis Chirchir said the government would step up enforcement against speeding and unsafe overtaking, improve dangerous sections of road and strengthen training and checks for commercial drivers.

In a statement on Sunday, Chirchir said the government would work with police, local authorities and lawmakers on the measures, including closer oversight of buses and heavy goods vehicles.

“We cannot continue treating road safety as business as usual,” he said, calling for stronger action to reduce deaths.

Figures from the NTSA, reported by Kenyan media, show that 5,009 people died in road crashes in 2025, with 2,150 deaths recorded in the first half of 2026.

The authority estimates that about 20,000 crashes occur across Kenya each year.

Following Sunday’s collision, it called for road crashes to be declared a national disaster.

Hundreds of Ethiopians have crossed into Kenya, fleeing ⁠⁠fighting in ⁠⁠the border town of Moyale, which was reportedly prompted by loyalists publicly raising the flag of a neighbouring majority-Somali state.

Kenyan police said on Thursday that hundreds of Ethiopians, mostly women and children, crossed into Kenya through several entry points in Moyale, including the Sessi, Kore, Biashara, Foundation and Miti areas.

The people who crossed the border were fleeing tensions between leaders of Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regional states, according to Kenyan police.

The police reported gunfire and chaotic scenes in Moyale.

Ethiopian media reported that the fighting in Moyale started as a dispute over raising the flag of the Somali Regional State, a regional state in eastern Ethiopia, on Sunday.

Tensions escalated into fighting between forces from the Oromia and Somali regions.

Gunfire, chaos

The Kenya Red Cross said it was setting up temporary shelter and distributing essential items including cereal and porridge flour.

“The response will initially reach 1,000 households,” the Kenya Red Cross said in a statement on Thursday.

It added that experts were conducting an assessment to work out how many people were ⁠affected and what their needs were.

The regional clash is hundreds of kilometres away from ‌‌a larger conflict in the northern Tigray region between government forces and a rebel alliance led by the Tigray People’s ‌‌Liberation ‌‌Front.

A 24-year-old man, who was already being held in quarantine, is the latest to test positive, according to the Health Ministry.

⁠Kenya has confirmed ⁠a new Ebola case, bringing the total ‌number of infections in the country to ⁠nine, amid an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), raising concerns about a regional spread.

A 24-year-old man, who was already being held in quarantine, is the latest to test positive, Kenya’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Tuesday.

“He was isolated at the first sign of illness, tested and started on treatment immediately upon confirmation of his positive test result,” it said, adding he “was already in quarantine when he fell ill”.

The man was a close family member of Kenya’s first Ebola patient, who had travelled from the DRC, through Uganda and before arriving in Kenya and dying at a Nairobi hospital on ⁠October 5.

“All nine cases belong to one cluster, and as of ‌today there is no evidence of transmission outside this group,” Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Eight patients are stable and responding well to treatment, while 134 of 135 contacts have been traced and quarantined,” Amoth said.

Amoth said a milestone was in sight for the majority of the contacts in quarantine as they had remained well for the 21-day monitoring period and could return home from October 25.

It appealed to communities to welcome them back, saying they “pose no risk of infection”.

The ministry said no infections had occurred within quarantine facilities and that it was continuously monitoring infection-prevention measures to protect health workers.

Despite the nine infections, Kenya has not imposed restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings, with authorities saying the country remains open for business.

In the DRC, there have been more than 9,000 Ebola cases and 4,000 deaths since May.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says it’s the second-largest epidemic on record.

It has been difficult to contain because there is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.

Kenyan health authorities say latest patient was likely exposed to the country’s first Ebola case.

Kenyan health authorities say an eighth Ebola case has been detected, bringing the total number of known infections in the East African nation to eight.

Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth told Kenya’s Citizen TV that of the 38 people tested on Sunday, one had returned a positive result.

“He is a 49-year-old man who is not a healthcare worker. He developed fever, headache and muscle pain,” he said.

Amoth said the man, who worked as a patient attendant cleaning utensils and linens, was likely exposed to Kenya’s first Ebola case, discovered earlier this month.

He developed symptoms on Saturday, was quarantined and tested for the virus, a Ministry of Health source said.

The ministry reported four new cases on Saturday, three of whom were health workers who treated the country’s first Ebola patient, a man who travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.

In a post on X, the ministry said the fourth person was related to the deceased patient.

Kenya has been on heightened alert, as the Ebola outbreak has spilled across the border from the DRC. The current outbreak is of the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment.

The DRC has recorded at least 9,400 cases, including more than 4,500 deaths, in the deadliest outbreak in the country’s history, which started in May.

Ituri province in eastern DRC remains the disease’s epicentre, accounting for almost three quarters of confirmed cases, according to the government’s most recent data. It announced on Sunday that the virus has reached an eighth province, North Ubangi.

State-run news agency ACP reported on Sunday that authorities in North Kivu province, where the World Health Organization said substantial transmission continues, are introducing a one-week ban from Monday on people entering the province from Ituri in an effort to slow the spread.

Other measures set to be introduced include restrictions on passenger numbers in cars and on motorbikes and suspension of large public gatherings.

Neighbouring Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases, including 15 imported from the DRC, and two deaths, before it was declared Ebola-free in August.

Nairobi, Kenya – Kenya’s response to an imported Ebola case has demonstrated its ability to mobilise a national response in the capital.

But a suspected case in the northeastern county of Wajir has raised a critical question: whether the country’s preparedness measures can protect communities far from major hospitals, laboratories and transport hubs.

The suspected case in Wajir tested negative, according to county officials, easing fears of wider transmission. Yet the incident highlighted the importance of local health facilities being able to recognise suspected infections, isolate patients safely and communicate reliable information to residents.

For communities near Kenya’s borders, preparedness requires more than screening travellers at airports and official crossings.

It also depends on trained health workers, appropriate protective equipment, functioning isolation facilities and clear referral procedures. Residents must know where to seek care and how to respond when health authorities raise the alarm.

Wajir’s readiness under scrutiny

Garad Saney Mohamed, communications director for Wajir county, told Al Jazeera that the county had established an isolation centre in Wajir town and formed a rapid response team to strengthen its preparedness.

He said the county was also using radio campaigns, community health promoters, school health programmes and posters to raise awareness about Ebola. A preparedness plan and budget had been put in place, he added.

However, the county did not provide details on the isolation centre’s capacity, the number of health workers trained specifically in Ebola response or the budget allocated to these efforts. Without that information, it is difficult to assess whether the county has the personnel and resources needed to manage suspected infections safely or respond to a wider outbreak.

The suspected case involved a 20-year-old man who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda before reaching his home in Wajir on September 20. He was assessed at Habaswein Subcounty Hospital in Wajir South after presenting with a severe febrile illness.

His sample tested negative for Ebola, according to county officials. He was to remain under observation while receiving medical care.

The case prompted precautionary action, but it does not establish whether Wajir’s wider preparedness systems would be sufficient during an outbreak. That would depend on factors including the availability of protective equipment, staff trained in infection prevention and control, safe sample transport and reliable links between local facilities and designated testing laboratories.

Wajir’s proximity to Somalia, which lies 110km (70 miles) to the east, and the movement of people and goods across the border make surveillance and public communication particularly important. Screening at formal entry points remains essential, but it cannot replace the ability of local health facilities and community health workers to recognise warning signs and guide people towards appropriate care.

National screening, local challenges

Kenya’s national response intensified after an Ebola case was linked to a Kenyan travelling from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda. The patient arrived in Nairobi on October 3, was diagnosed with Bundibugyo virus of the disease and died on October 5, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Kenya notified the WHO on October 6.

The patient had fallen ill while living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and travelled by road to Kampala before flying to Nairobi. Laboratory tests at the National Virology Reference Laboratory and the Kenya Medical Research Institute confirmed the infection, according to the Ministry of Health.

On October 14, Kenya confirmed a second case of Bundibugyo virus disease involving a 39-year-old man who was a close family member of the first patient. He was already in quarantine and under daily monitoring when he developed symptoms, including fever, fatigue and joint pains, on October 13.

Laboratory tests confirmed the infection, and he was transferred to a designated treatment centre for supportive care. The Ministry of Health said the two cases were linked and there was no evidence of transmission in the wider community.

Authorities subsequently intensified surveillance at points of entry, contact tracing and public communication. The negative test result in Wajir underscored the importance of investigating suspected infections promptly and using laboratory testing to establish whether the virus is present.

As of October 6, Kenya had screened 652,584 travellers, tested 267 samples and trained 4,971 healthcare workers in Ebola prevention and management, according to the Ministry of Health.

By October 12, the WHO reported that more than 665,000 travellers had been screened and 127 contacts had been listed, with 94 in quarantine. Five laboratories had been designated to test for the disease, and nearly 5,000 health workers had received training.

These figures demonstrate the scale of the national response. But the number of travellers screened or health workers trained does not, on its own, establish how effectively those resources are distributed or whether individual counties can manage suspected infections.

For Wajir, the key questions concern the readiness of local facilities, the availability of trained personnel and protective equipment, and the speed with which samples can be transported for testing. The county has outlined the measures it has taken, but the available information does not provide a complete picture of its operational capacity.

Preparedness means more than the numbers

Health workers need to recognise suspected cases, follow infection-prevention protocols, collect and transport samples safely, and refer patients without exposing others. Facilities must also have appropriate protective equipment and clear procedures for managing suspected infections.

The WHO reported that Kenya’s national preparedness score rose from 66 percent in May to 82 percent in July. The assessment covered measures including surveillance, laboratory testing, isolation and treatment facilities, and trained response teams.

The improvement suggests that preparedness measures had advanced before the imported case was confirmed. However, a national score cannot establish whether every county has the equipment, staffing and referral arrangements needed to respond effectively. Assessments of local capacity are essential to identifying gaps that national figures may not reveal.

The Kenya Red Cross has also supported preparedness and public awareness efforts. Dr Paul Olale, a representative of the organisation, told Al Jazeera about a preparedness assessment. However, the basis of the separate figure attributed to the organisation was not established in the information available for this report, making it difficult to determine what it measured or whether it identified county-level weaknesses.

The organisation has highlighted the need to counter misinformation. During an outbreak, rumours can leave people uncertain about symptoms, how the virus spreads and whether they should seek medical attention.

For residents, information needs to be practical. People should know where to seek care, how to report a suspected illness and what to do while awaiting medical advice. Communication must also address stigma and reassure people that reporting a suspected illness can help protect their families and communities.

Community health promoters, local radio stations, schools and trusted community leaders can help deliver information in languages and formats residents understand. But awareness campaigns are most effective when they are consistent and backed by health services capable of responding promptly to concerns.

Wajir’s experience illustrates why Kenya’s Ebola preparedness must be measured not only by national screening figures and training totals, but also by the ability of individual counties to respond safely when a suspected case emerges.

An isolation centre, a rapid response team and public awareness campaigns are important components of an effective response. Their existence alone, however, does not establish whether facilities have adequate equipment, staff can follow established protocols or residents can access reliable information when they need it.

Kenya has demonstrated its ability to mobilise a national response, expand screening and undertake laboratory testing. The challenge is ensuring that these measures translate into effective protection beyond major transport hubs, including in remote communities where access to healthcare and timely information may be more difficult.

Dr Mary Muthoni, Kenya’s principal secretary for public health and professional standards, underscored the importance of protecting frontline staff in remarks delivered on behalf of Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, according to a WHO statement released on October 12.

“No health worker in this country should be asked to attend to a suspected Ebola case without the right protective equipment.”