GARISSA, 15 January (IRIN) - At least 2,000 Somali children who attend schools in northeastern Kenya have failed to resume classes a week after school re-opened, due to the closure of the border, officials said.

Kenyan officials confirmed that the children, who attend schools in the districts of Mandera, Ijara, Wajir and Garissa, have not been allowed in the country since fighting broke out in Somalia in December.

The deputy commissioner of Northeastern Province, Mike Kimoko, said the order to stop Somalis from entering Kenya was meant to prevent "dangerous persons" from getting into the country.

"It is a unilateral decision and applies to all Somali[s]; we had no formal agreement to offer the education," Kimoko told IRIN in the provincial capital of Garissa. "The provision of education is funded by Kenyan taxpayers and it is not our obligation to fund the education of foreigners."

Kenyan children who go to schools located close to the border have also failed to attend classes after a government directive that all Kenyans must move more than 18km away for security reasons.

"We moved with our children after two people from our village were killed in attacks across the border," said Siyad, a resident from Elkabera. "Our children are out of school - it remains closed. We have a lot of problems like illness, hunger and fear."

However, despite the closure of the border, the number of Somalis travelling towards Kenya has increased. "There are many families from as far away as [the capital] Mogadishu who have arrived in Dobley [18km from the Kenyan border] in the last few days," said a resident who requested anonymity. "They say they are running from the insecurity in their areas."

Most Dobley residents who left after Ethiopian and Somali government forces entered the town, "for fear of being caught in the middle, have now returned", said the resident.

Dobley is close to the area where fighting continues between the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) remnants and Ethiopian and government soldiers. The UIC was forced out of Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia in late December.

"The town is now back to normal," the resident said. "We even had a food distribution yesterday [Sunday] and today [Monday]."  

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said a Somali partner on Friday started distributing one-month food rations to 6,000 people who took refuge near a Somali border village.

"The distribution by the [non-governmental organisation] WASDA began on Friday in the southern village of Dobley and surrounding area to 6,000 people, many women and children, displaced by fighting and 12,000 residents hosting the displaced, therefore also in need of assistance," WFP said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mogadishu was tense on Monday morning after attacks and ambushes by unknown gunmen on Ethiopian and Somali government forces. Residents remained holed up in their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire, local sources said.

"The attacks started at about 11p.m. and continued for an hour," said a local source. "They first attacked a convoy of Ethiopian troops on Industrial Road in north Mogadishu, and then ambushed a reinforcement sent to help the first convoy."

Mogadishu residents now had to put up with night attacks, he said, adding: "Life at night in Mogadishu is becoming very difficult. Many businesses that used to operate at night are now closing by 5p.m. It is becoming more and more dangerous to do anything in this town."

ah/mw

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