ISIOLO, 21 October 2011 (IRIN) - A flare-up in inter-ethnic fighting between communities in the northern Kenyan region of Isiolo over pasture and water has left at least 14 people dead and affected learning as schools closed amid rising insecurity, say officials.
Borana and Turkana pastoralists clashed several times between 13 and 18 October, according to UN reports.
On 14 October, for example, seven people were shot dead in Tractor village, Ngaremara Division, Isiolo. According to local media reports, they included two 12-year-old children, who were dragged out of their huts and shot as their parents watched.
According to Dominic Opee, the Isiolo District Education Officer, the insecurity in Ngaremara has led to the closure of at least six schools. “We are concerned that innocent children are losing a very important opportunity to access education,” said Opee.
An estimated 3,000 children in the Ngaremara and Central divisions are affected – even as pupils countrywide prepare for the main primary school leaving exams in November.
“We regret these unfortunate incidents. [Some] parents and two pupils have been killed,” said Dade Boru, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Isiolo Branch Executive Secretary, adding that some of the teachers had received death threats too.
“Teachers must not be considered as enemies even if they belong to a community which is perceived as a rival group; this perception adversely affects equitable distribution of teachers, performance and heightens animosity amongst the warring communities and wrecks the minds of our children,” said Boru.
KNUT has advised affected teachers to remain at home and requested transfers for those who have been threatened.
The teachers in Isiolo are predominantly from the Borana, Somali and Meru communities.
Ekwam Terru, a local Turkana leader, said:
Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks (http://www.irinnews.org ) 
October 11, 2010, 03:05:03 AM