Oromo — Borana and Gabra (Kenya)

Oromo is the most widely spoken Cushitic language in the world. The Kenyan varieties, spoken by the Borana and Gabra pastoralists of Marsabit County and the Chalbi Desert, the Orma of Tana River County, the Sakuye and Waata of Marsabit and Isiolo counties, and smaller groups, belong to the Southern Oromo cluster (ISO 639-3: gax, Borana-Arsi-Guji Oromo). Approximately 650,000 to 700,000 people speak Oromo varieties in Kenya. Borana Oromo's oral tradition includes the ayyaana spiritual system, the gadaa age-set governance cycle (inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016), and a rich corpus of pastoral praise poetry. The Sakuye, a small community of mixed historical origin (Somali affiliated, Rendille, and Borana) who adopted Borana Oromo as their language, found mainly in the Dabel area of Marsabit County are particularly at risk of language shift.