Elders sent to negotiate with kidnappers of Cuban doctors

Kidnapped Cuban doctors Landy Rodriguez and Herera Correa with journalist Njeri Ngugi. [Courtesy]

The Government is hoping a group of elders sent to Somalia to trace two abducted Cuban doctors will secure their release.

The elders were facilitated to venture into Somalia where the abductors are believed to be holding Landy Rodriguez (a surgeon) and Herera Correa (general practitioner) since Friday.

Security sources in Mandera said the county and national governments are aware of the development.

“This is one of the approaches being used in efforts to solve the issue. The elders are deep in Somalia negotiating with their fellow elders to see if they can solve the matter. We believe money is the reason for the abduction,” said an official aware of the developments.

Police Headquarters had announced that security forces were working with their Somalia counterparts to rescue the two doctors.

Police said the approach is necessary since the attackers, suspected to be Al-Shabaab militants, crossed into Somalia after the kidnap.

“Our objective is to rescue the victims,” Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai said in a statement.

The abducted doctors are among 100 Cuban specialists who arrived in the country in June 2018. Most local medics had fled the area in fear of terror attacks.

Rodriguez and Correa had settled in well at the Mandera Referral Hospital where they had been working for the past year.

Dr Rodriguez said in an earlier interview that he was initially anxious about working in Mandera after reading about Al-Shabaab attacks before he travelled to Kenya.

Dr Correa, however, said he had worked in dangerous territories before so his new assignment was not any different.

Security agencies, led by the military, are inside Somalia pursuing the attackers and victims.