NAIROBI, July 3 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Tuesday appealed for $32 million to fight food shortages affecting 237,000 refugees in camps in northern Kenya, where about a fifth of children under five face malnutrition.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the malnutrition rate for children under five stood at just over 22 percent in Dadaab camp, and near 16 percent in Kakuma camp.

"The malnutrition crisis that we are witnessing in the refugee camps in Kenya is the cumulative effect of years of recurrent budgetary shortfalls," Eddie Gedalof, UNHCR's acting representative for Kenya, said.

Dadaab and Kakuma are home to 237,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia and Sudan.

The United Nations said renewed fighting in Somalia had sent 40,000 people fleeing to Kenya since mid-2006.

Refugees living in the two camps are prohibited from farming, grazing livestock or working outside the camps and largely depend on aid.

The agencies said they needed money to provide goods like firewood, energy-saving stoves and soap, and water, so that refugees are not forced to sell their food to get money to buy those items.

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