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.