Fear, hunger stalk Jaffna Tamils

First driven from their homes by a Tamil Tiger warning, then forced to move back as the military emptied schools-turned-refugee camps, many residents in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula are hungry and afraid.

Cut off from the rest of Sri Lanka by LTTE territory, surviving on dry rations shipped in by the state and living under the pall of daily murders and abductions, 9-year-old Calista Emmanuel's mother is too afraid to send her daughter to school.

Mindful of a boycott on lessons imposed by the pro-LTTE Jaffna students union, instead she makes her sit on the roadside near their coastal home to sell chicken drumsticks, coconuts and mangoes to bring in a few rupees.

"There is no normal life for us," she lamented. "If there was normalcy, there would be no shortage of food, no long queues. How can children go to school when their stomach is empty and they are awake from 3 a.m. because of shelling?"

The government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have both pledged to resume peace talks after a five-month impasse, but a new chapter of the island's civil war continues to flare.

The military fires sporadic artillery and multi-barrel rocket fire towards LTTE territory. The Tigers fire artillery and mortar bombs. Each side always accuses the other of provoking confrontations, and analysts fear the violence will only deepen.

Civilians - hundreds of whom have died in crossfire in the north and east since the worst outbreak of fighting since a 2002 ceasefire erupted in late July - are trapped.

"This is a sad experience. I am still scared to live in this house," said newly-married Donald Nelson Wilfred, 29, standing by his beachside home in Jaffna. He was turfed out of a school where he had sought refuge after the Tigers warned the neighbourhood to clear out ahead of an imminent attack.

"Life was easy at the school," he said. "Our problem is we have to obey two masters."

Rights officials say 131 civilians have been killed on the peninsula since August, and that another 50 have "disappeared". Some people leave their houses at night to take refuge in churches for fear the LTTE’s naval arm will attack military outposts, before heading home at first light.

Many residents in almost entirely Tamil Jaffna town are gradually adapting to fuel, food and electricity shortages and a daily curfew, but many complain they are either not receiving food handouts or that rations are insufficient.

Fortnightly ration cards allot 4 kg of rice, 3 kg of flour, 1 kg of sugar and 750 grams of lentils per person over the age of 5. Unemployed receive them from free, while others must pay.

The town is in lock-down. Heavily armed soldiers man checkpoints at seemingly every corner, armoured trucks roar through town at high speed, and items like baby milk powder are out of stock.