Cuban doctors kidnapped in Mandera 'doing well' in Somalia

HAVANA, Cuba - Two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped in Mandera, several miles northeast of the capital Nairobi are doing well in Somalia, a top official has confirmed.

Since April, elite forces from KDF has been tracking the two medics with elders from Kenya and Somalia owning the entire process.

Ines Maria Chapman, vice president of the Cuban Council of Ministers, told reporters in Havana on Monday after returning from Nairobi that the doctors "are fine".

She said: "The Kenyan authorities affirmed that both doctors, Assel Herrera and Landy Rodriguez, are well and they will continue their efforts, as well as those carried out by our country, for their safe return to Cuba."

The pair, a general practitioner and a surgeon, were abducted on April 12 by suspected Al-Shabaab jihadists in Mandera, near the border with Somalia.

During the ambush, one of the security officers guarding them was killed on the spot while another one sustained serious injuries.

Issack Ibrein Robow, the driver of the two doctors, is under police custody. In November, prosecutors said that "he never attempted to escape despite being able to do so".

The driver is accused of having masterminded the ambush in collaboration with Al-Shabaab militants in search for ransom.

Elders from the two countries in May confirmed that the doctors had been located in the Gedo region where they were treating locals under Al-Shabaab militants.

According to reports which the Kenyan government would later deny, the militants asked for $1.5 million as ransom, a figure which authorities termed "ridiculous".

"Our people can be sure that the Cuban government, like the government of Kenya, is making huge efforts, paying special attention to this issue," Chapman said.

The medics were part of 100 doctors from Cuba who arrived in Kenya for a special sustainable health arrangement between Havana and Nairobi.

Since the ambush, the government of Kenya relocated Cuban doctors from terror-prone areas as a precaution against possible attacks.

Chapman said the rest of the doctors "are fine, they are safe. Some doctors who were on the border have been relocated closer to the capital."

Al-Shabaab militants have often waged attacks on Kenyan soil killing hundreds in return. The latest attack came on December 6th in Wajir where 11 people died.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on 12 December said: "we shall continue helping Somalia to restore peace and stability."

At least 2,600 Kenya Defense Forces troops are stationed in Somalia under the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM).

GAROWE ONLINE