NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 21– Cuba’s Speaker of the National People’s Power Assembly and President of the State Council, Esteban Lazo Hernández, has travelled to Nairobi to seek clarity on the reported murder of its nationals in Somalia.
Hernández departed Havana on Tuesday following reports on Sunday that a US drone strike had taken out two doctors kidnapped in Mandera County in 2019.
Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said Hernández will engage Kenyan authorities in “searching for cooperation and clarification” over the possible deaths of Landy Rodríguez and Assel Herrera.
The duo has been in the hands of the Somalia-based Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist outfit for more than four years since their adbuction in Mandera.
While unconfirmed reports suggest that the two doctors were killed in a recent American drone strike targeting Jilib town in Somalia, both the US and Kenya have yet to provide official confirmation or clarification regarding the situation.
Havana said that soon after receiving the news, the Cuban government, in collaboration with international partners, intensified efforts to gather accurate information about the status of their nationals.
“As part of those efforts, since Sunday, February 18, and in addition to the procedures and the communication with the government of Kenya, official contacts started to be established with the government of Somalia in search of more accurate information about the reported military operations,” Cuba’s MFA said.
Cuba further indicated that it is still awaiting a response from Washington after reaching out to the US seeking information on the matter.