This archive report was first published on 12 July 2019.
Exactly four months have passed since two Cuban doctors, Dr. Landy Rodriguez and Dr. Assel Herrera Correa, were abducted by suspected al-Shabaab militants in Mandera, Kenya, on April 12, 2019.
The doctors, who were stationed in Mandera, were kidnapped in a daring road ambush that left one police officer dead. Since then, there has been little information about the government's efforts to rescue them.
Mandera police commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom revealed that efforts are ongoing to rescue the doctors but declined to share more information about the rescue plan. 'Efforts are ongoing to rescue the doctors but I don't know when they will be released. What I know is that they are alive wherever they are,' he said.
Local elders had volunteered to negotiate the release of the doctors a week after the abduction. They crossed the border through Elwak on April 20, 2019, with El-Adde as their first destination. However, those they met at El-Adde denied abducting the doctors but admitted holding them in one of their hideouts.
The elders returned after two weeks in El-Adde and eventually met the doctors. However, they were mistreated during their stay. The elders also negotiated the ransom but could not agree on the figure, which was reportedly higher than the Sh150 million mentioned in the media.
