By Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The United Nations has diverted aid intended for refugees from anarchic Somalia to help Kenya, a country which until less than two weeks ago was widely seen as a bastion of stability in a turbulent region.

Around 500 people have died and at least 255,000 fled their homes in Kenya since chaos erupted following the disputed result of an election on Dec. 27.

"We have shifted 24 tonnes of blankets and soap from our warehouses in Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya ... they are now here in Nairobi," Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Wednesday.

Dadaab houses refugees from the conflict in Somalia, where Ethiopian and transitional government troops are fighting Islamist insurgents. Nyabera said the agency would start distributing to families in various parts of Nairobi, where riots and political killings, mostly in the slums, have left many homeless.

Thousands of women and children have been camping on open ground in Nairobi after gangs forced political rivals and other ethnic groups from their neighbourhoods and torched houses.

"Considering that Kenya has played host to refugees for years and years, we thought it our obligation to also intervene in the Kenya humanitarian situation," Nyabera said.

The United Nations is also shipping in supplies from regional stockpiles in Dubai and Tanzania to help Kenyan refugees around the country.

U.N. agencies have long used Kenya as an operational hub to help volatile neighbouring states. But officials from the world body have expressed concern that the crisis in Kenya could cut a humanitarian lifeline to hundreds of thousands of refugees. (Editing Barry Moody and Mary Gabriel)

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