The president of Cuba’s National Assembly, Esteban Lazo Hernández, travelled to Kenya to seek clarification over recent unconfirmed reports which suggested that two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped in Mandera in 2019 had been killed.
The doctors, Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodríguez Hernández, were kidnapped by al-Shabaab militants as they travelled to work.
The mission by Lazo comes after Al-Shabaab claimed in a statement that the two doctors had been killed in a US air strike in Somalia last week.
Lazo “has travelled to Kenya in order to engage in urgent procedures with the highest authorities of that country”, the Cuban ministry said in a statement published on Tuesday.
He is “searching for cooperation and clarification, in the light of the recent news published about the possible non-confirmed death of doctors Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodriguez Hernandez, who were kidnapped in that country on April 12, 2019”.
The statement gave no further details about his itinerary.
Last weekend, al-Shabaab said that the doctors had been killed last Thursday during a US drone strike targeted at a house in the southern Somali town of Jilib.
US officials there was no credible evidence that the strike caused any civilian casualties, but added that the US was investigating al-Shabaab’s claim of the doctors’ deaths.
The U.S. military has confirmed conducting an airstrike near Jilib town in Somalia, where according to al-Shabaab two Cuban hostages were killed in a drone strike on the same day.
AFRICOM said in a statement that they “take all claims of civilian casualties seriously” and that officials will assess the results of this operation and provide additional information as available.
AFRICOM confirmed an airstrike was conducted against al-Shabaab on February 15 near Jilib, according to AFRICOM spokesperson Lennea Montandon. “We are aware of reports of a strike alleged to have killed two civilians. We do not have any further information at this time about these reports, but we do take all claims of civilian casualties seriously,” Montandon said in an email.
“The command will continue to assess the results of this operation and will provide additional information as available.”
Cuba’s foreign ministry sake it also reached out to the US and Somali government for more details on the military operation in question and the status of the doctors.
After the 2019 kidnapping, al-Shabaab gunmen then killed an armed policeman who was guarding the doctors.
The militant group then took the doctors to neighbouring Somalia, later demanding a $1.5m (£1.1m) ransom for the release of the doctors.
Talks on their release were launched months later before they collapsed. The doctors were used by the militants to treat them in the areas they control.
They were part of a 100-member Cuban medical brigade working in Kenya under a bilateral agreement.
The U.S. has supported the Somali government with airstrikes against al-Shabab and military training for government troops since the early 2010s.
Last week, the U.S. and Somali government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of up to five military bases for the U.S.-trained elite Somali National Army forces known as the Danab (lightning) Brigade.
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