Mandera elders to resume talks with al-Shabaab over Cuban doctors

Elders from Mandera town are expected resume negotiations release two Cuban doctors with al-Shabaab. Mohamed Osman Magan, one of the elders has told the media that they planning travelled to al-Shabaab controlled areas to restart talks with the group. “We have not yet dropped the idea to talk to al-Shabab in order to secure the Cuban doctors, soon we will set off to resume our negotiations with them,” he said. Last April, the Kenya government had dispatched elders to see the possibility to open talks with al-Shabaab who are suspected to have abducted the doctors. On the 12th of April this year, gunmen kidnapped two Cuban doctors from Mandera town. The abducted doctors were identified as Landy Rodriguez (a surgeon) and Herera Correa (general practitioner). The two doctors are among 100 Cuban specialists who arrived in Kenya in June 2018 under a bilateral arrangement between Kenyan and Cuban governments. Al-Shabaab had been carrying out a deadly raid and bomb explosions in Kenya since 2011 when the East African nation deployed its military in Somalia to the group. Mandera which is on Kenya’s border with Somalia had witnesses attacks previously conducted al-Shabaab militants. The group majorly targeted non-locals in Mandera county, leading the county to lose labour from other counties including doctors, teachers, and quarry workers