State intensifies efforts to rescue abducted chiefs

President William Ruto addresses residents at Moi Stadium in Mandera town. He has vowed to ensure the abducted chiefs are rescued from captivity in Somalia. [File, Standard]

The five chiefs and a child abducted by Al Shabaab in Mandera are still in captivity in Somalia as government makes frantic efforts to rescue them.

Initially, the insurgents had demanded a ransom of unknown amount, but this seems to have been dropped after elders from Kenya and Somalia intervened, according to a source.

The source insisted that ransom demand was no longer part of the negations with the Al Shabaab militants and elders of from Marehan clan that cuts across the Kenya-Somalia boarder.

Chiefs Mohamed Adawa, Mohamed Hassan, Abdi Hassan, Mohamed Noor Hache, assistant chief Ibrahim Gabow and the child were ambushed two weeks ago by the insurgents at the Iresuki area while en route to join Elwak Deputy County Commissioner in Mandera town ahead of President William Ruto's tour of the county.

"It is a delicate situation requiring patience. These people (Al Shabaab) keep changing location in Jilib region, and therefore it might take time before we have the chiefs back," said the source.

The Al Shabaab militants use captives to demand ransom especially in North Eastern region where families often pay in exchange for freedom of their loved ones.

While on a tour in the county on Tuesday, President Ruto vowed to ensure that the chiefs are freed, and warned that the government will be ruthless against Al Shabaab.

"We will go after them, we will deal with them, and we will eliminate them," he said.

Since then, the government has not given an official update regarding the rescue mission of the abducted chiefs.

The family of one of the chiefs is worried because he is diabetic, and requires regular medication.

Since 2011, when Kenya Defence Forces troops made an incursion into Somalia in pursuit of Al-Shabaab, Mandera has been one of the hardest-hit regions, with frequent retaliatory attacks by the insurgents.

In January 2012, Somali insurgents captured two government officials, who were released more than a year later following successful negotiations led by then Administration Police Commandant Omar Shurie who has since retired.

Edward Yesse Mule, a District Officer, and Fredrick Irungu Wainaina, a Registrar of Persons clerk in Wajir South District, were abducted at the Gerile AP border post.

Efforts to bring the two officers back safely proved futile after the government initially refused to negotiate with the Al-Shabaab militants, who had demanded a huge ransom.