The government has responded to reports that Al Shabaab is demanding a Ksh150 million ransom in exchange for two Cuban doctors who were abducted in Mandera County on April 12.
Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma on Tuesday stated that the government has no intention of paying the money.
"On the matter of Cuban doctors, this is an ongoing operation and we believe that we are going to secure their release but as a matter of policy, this government does not negotiate with terrorists about ransom," the CS told journalists.
Somali community elders who were sent to trace the whereabouts of Doctors Assel Herera Correa (General Physician) and Landy Rodriguez (Surgeon), reported that the two medics were alive and located between the towns of Buale and El-Ade in Jubaland region of Somalia.
The medical experts are said to be providing treatment to the locals in a restricted environment.
It is believed that Al Shabaab is interested in doctors due to the casualties they suffer after attacks from Amisom troops and US airstrikes.
On the day the doctors were kidnapped, the suspects, who were armed, first blocked the vehicle that was ferrying the medics before alighting and opening fire on the police officers accompanying them.
One officer was fatally shot while the other managed to escape.
The militants then bundled the two doctors into their vehicle and drove off.
Just days after the abduction, the government recalled Cuban doctors attached to Wajir and Garissa Counties.
Watch the video of CS Monica Juma speaking about the abducted doctors below.
