NAIROBI, Kenya, February 23 (CDN) — Two nuns working in northeast Kenya who were kidnapped last November have been freed and arrived here from Mogadishu, Somalia on Thursday (Feb. 19), but they are still traumatized, sources told Compass.

Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61, both of Italy, are receiving medical care, and top leaders of the Roman Catholic Church are providing them spiritual counseling. Pastor Alois Maina of Mandera, a close friend of the nuns, told Compass that a representative of the pope and the Cardinal of Kenya are among those counseling the nuns, who on Nov. 10 were abducted at gunpoint by suspected Islamic militants.

Father Bongiovanni Franco, who worked with the sisters in Mandera, told Compass by telephone that the sisters are fatigued.

“Their movement from one place to another, and living in house confinement most of their stay in Mogadishu, seems to have affected their health – it was like a prison cell,” Fr. Franco said. “Apart from the spiritual attention being given to the sisters, there is also the need for intensive medical examination for them.”

The nuns had been kidnapped from Elwak, near Mandera, and taken across the nearby border into Somalia. Some 20 armed Somali men suspected to be members of the Islamic insurgent group al Shabaab – said to have links with al Qaeda – had taken them away in a midnight attack using three vehicles.

Asked about the circumstances surrounding their release, Fr. Franco said, “At the moment, our focus is on spiritual and medical needs for the sisters.”

Fr. Franco added that the two nuns cultivated friendly relations with some Muslims while in Somalia, in spite of being taken there by force.

“Thank you for your prayers and concern – indeed this has helped our sisters to be released,” Fr. Franco said. “We have just completed our evening prayers with them. We are planning for a two-day retreat with the sisters.”

Fr. Franco told Compass that the delicate security situation of the two nuns at the moment preempted the possibility of interviewing them about their ordeal. Last week Sister Giraudo reportedly told Italian television channel Sky Italia by telephone, “We are very happy ... We were treated well, we are fine.”

Sources said the two sisters are staying somewhere in Eastleigh, a few kilometers from the city center of Nairobi.

Working in Kenya since the early 1970s, the nuns had provided medical and nutritional care to poor children, the elderly and expectant mothers. They are reportedly members of the Contemplative Missionary Movement P. de Foucauld.

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