Kenya Moves All Cuban Doctors Away From Border After Abductions

Kenyan officials reported Monday all Cuban doctors deployed along the border with Somalia are being evacuated following the kidnapping last week of two Cuban doctors.

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The removal is taken place from the three border counties of Lamu, Garissa, and Wajir. Lamu County officer in charge of health, Anne Gathoni, said Monday that the remaining Cuban doctors had been evacuated from because they had been traumatized by the kidnapping of their colleagues.

The incident happened on April 12, as Assel Herrera Correa, a general medicine specialist, and Landy Rodriguez Hernandez,  an orthopedic surgeon, were kidnapped while they were being escorted in an official vehicle to Mandera Hospital located in a northeastern county of Kenya which borders Somalia.

The attackers, suspected Islamic extremists from Al-Shabab,  blocked the traveling vehicle and opened fire, killing one of the police officers accompanying the doctors, while a second agent was able to escape alive.

Kenya’s anti-terrorist Unit suspects that the driver, Issac Ibrein Elbow, colluded with the captors. Judge Muthono Nzibe has agreed to prolonge the driver’s arrest for at least 15 more days as investigations continue, reported teleSUR’s correspondent in Kenya.

Meanwhile, on Saturday,  the Kenyan National Police Service released a statement via Twitter saying that “concerted efforts are being made for their search and rescue by a multi-agency security team.”

Herrera and Rodriguez are part of a contingent of one hundred doctors who arrived in the African country in 2018 under an agreement signed between Cuba and Kenya to improve access to specialized medical services. They were destined to an area close to the border with Somalia.