"We dream of going back. The schooling we give our pupils is centred on the ideas of peace and repatriation," said Abd Mohammad Sayad, who runs the camp's school built of corrugated iron and wood for 570 children.

The watercolour sketches of the children aged between six and 16 also have a common theme of boats and planes emblazoned with the Somali colours bound for home.

The teachers in the camp for 13,500 refugees from Somalia's civil war are all Somalis, while the school is funded by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a French non-governmental agency, Triangle. A Swedish humanitarian group, Radda Barnen Suadesh (Save the Children), provides supervision.

Jaheen is perched on the volcanic rocks of Al-Arkub at an altitude of 500 metres (1,650 feet), in Abyan province. The road leading to the camp is dotted with army checkpoints, manned around the clock.

But refugees often try to flee on foot to the Red Sea port city of Aden, 120 kilometres (75 miles) away, in search of work.

A limited number have a permit to cross the checkpoints to buy supplies in local villages. Each refugee has a monthly UNHCR ration of 13 kilograms (28 pounds) of flour and half a kilo (one pound) of sugar.

Yemeni authorities say the total number of Somalis in Yemen is more than 400,000, burdening the limited resources of one of the world's poorest countries.

The Jaheen camp, set up shortly after Yemen's own civil war of May-July 1994 under UNHCR supervision, is made up of 105 tents and several shacks, rickety toilets and sheds on the verge of collapse.

It also has a run-down clinic.

Two Somalis and a Sudanese doctor, including a paediatrician, work in shifts to provide health care, but refugees complain that hygiene is poor and medicine in short supply.

"Disputes are settled by the camp's elders. Cases which cannot be sorted out are referred to the Sudanese camp director," said Habiba Mohammad Nur, who represents the 4,200 women of Jaheen.

One of the few activities is the making of furniture and mats as part of an arts and crafts programme.

Boredom looms large. "The main pastime is making babies: we have about 40 births each month," said Nur, adding that the tally of children in the camp had reached 2,200.

"Relations are good with the Yemeni authorities, who offer us hospitality. But only the charitable associations of the (Islamic opposition) Al-Islah party give us aid in the form of blankets and mattresses," she said.

Several hundred Somali boat-people have drowned over the past three years trying to reach Yemen, which some use as a springboard to oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

A few hundred have given up hope and returned under a UNHCR voluntary repatriation scheme.

Those desperate to flee Somalia use boats piloted by armed smugglers who refuse to obey the Yemeni coast guard. Passengers are frequently ordered by the boat pilots to jump into the sea, according to the UNHCR.

Somalia, which has been without a central government since 1991, is wracked by warfare between feuding clans.