The Kenyan army is mobilizing troops near the border with Somalia in case negotiations with the kidnappers of two Italian nuns break down, local media reports said Monday.
Army vehicles and helicopters have already been deployed in the area around El Wak, the border village from which Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Olivero, 61, were kidnapped along with their driver on November 9 by around 30 armed men.
The hostages were driven around 100 km over the Somali border by the kidnappers, who are believed to be Somali guerillas.
''We will continue to give space to the negotiations that are under way before going on to the next step, which will be to flush out the militiamen,'' Kenyan Army spokesman Bogita Ongeri told local daily The Standard.
On Saturday a Kenyan government spokesman said the two nuns were well and that the elders of the region had contacted the kidnappers and begun negotiations for their return.
The two nuns, from the northern Italian Father de Foucauld Missionary Contemplative Movement, had been working at a small medical centre to help the disabled and those suffering from epilepsy and tuberculosis.
