Hunger, war fears stalk Sri Lanka's Jaffna

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Oct 31: As the sound of artillery thunders in the distance, Samuel Vethanayagam warns of more grim tidings for Sri Lanka's isolated north after peace talks between the Tamil Tigers and government failed.

The weekend dialogue in Geneva collapsed over the rebels' main demand that the government reopen a key highway to the Tamil-dominated northern Jaffna peninsula that was closed in August during a surge in fighting on the Indian Ocean island.

''If the government delays reopening the A-9 road, I tell you there will be riots ... more killings, violence and kidnappings,'' Vethnayagam, a retired land surveyor, said in the government-controlled town of Jaffna.

The peninsula, which is cut off from the rest of the island by rebel lines, is a coveted strategic prize in the conflict between the government and Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- who say they are fighting for a separate homeland for the country's minority Tamils.

It has changed hands several times. The government took it from the rebels in 1995 and has held it since, but at the cost of hundreds of soldiers' lives. More than 40,000 troops are now stationed on the peninsula.

Many of Jaffna's half-million Tamils complain of food, medicine and fuel shortages since the army shut the A-9, the nation's main north-south artery. The army says the rebels shell the road, making it unsafe.

To Vethanayagam, who came from Colombo in August to visit his ancestral home in Jaffna and has been stuck there ever since due to the fighting, the talks in Geneva were a waste of time.

NO BENEFIT TO ANYONE

''Now the talks have ended without any benefit to anyone,'' the stocky 65-year-old said as army troops with AK-47s checked the identity cards of young Tamil men nearby.

The government, which refused to open the highway during the talks in Geneva, is supplying the peninsula by sea and air.

Vethanayagam, who has been displaced from his home twice due to fighting over the past 11 years, says it is not enough.

''The government is holding us like prisoners here ... I have no fear of war because we have faced war situations before, but never a scarcity of food like this.'' For weeks international aid agencies have been calling for easier movement for their workers and for supplies to the conflict areas in the east and north. They accuse both sides of blocking access to civilians caught up in the fighting.

''The government does not seem to understand the hardships the people of Jaffna are facing every day,'' said schoolteacher Saratha Selvakumar as she waited for a bus.

''We know that airlifting and shipping food for so many people will not be a success. Half the stuff goes to the (armed) forces,'' she said, adding that corruption meant the other half was not distributed properly by the fixed-price ration shops.

Witnesses say residents must wait for seven to eight hours to receive their rations, often getting up before dawn.

Prices of milk powder, rice, soap and sugar have more than trebled in private grocery stores after A-9 road was shut.

''Can the government supply all the requirements of Tamils by ship?'' Vethanayagam asked. ''That is totally impossible.''

REUTERS

Related Stories
'Lanka accepting to talk to LTTE a mistake'
'Increase in bloodshed after new SL Govt in power'