From 1 July, the Essential Services Commissioner (ESC) reduced dry rations for refugees in the northern Vanni area by 57% although initially the government announced a cut of around 20%. Over 440,000 people in the Vanni received dry rations, based on surveys and estimates by senior state officers, the Government Agents (GA), but from July only 190,000 are entitled to food aid.
Colombo bureaucrats have questioned the refugee figures submitted by the GAs. A three-member government committee, appointed in October 1996 to determine the number of refugees, had submitted its report without visiting the Vanni. The report remains unpublished.
While a number of essential goods remain banned, food has been progressively reduced to areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north-east. The 60,000 people who fled to the Vanni following the Army’s Operation Riviresa II (Sunray) in Jaffna in April 1996 were denied food aid and the government slashed food assistance by some 40% in May 1997.
Those displaced by the Army operation Sathjaya (Truth’s Victory) in Kilinochchi in September 1996 were also excluded from assistance. Although the government’s financial problems are blamed for the latest cuts, reports say no international appeal has been launched for assistance to help the refugees.
The government suspects that food to the Vanni reaches the LTTE. Observers say that even if part of the food ends up in Tiger hands, the cuts are arbitrary and will result in the denial of basic needs of the population. The reduction, the observers allege, has the strategic aim of bringing pressure on the LTTE and forcing Jaffna people to leave the Vanni.
Some 110,000 people have returned to Jaffna from the Vanni. The LTTE allowed the people to go after exacting a tax from them, in the face of its inability to provide for the basic needs of the people in territory under its control. But the Tigers seem increasingly agitated over the loss of the population which is necessary to prosecute the war. In mid-August the LTTE imposed new restrictions on people leaving the Vanni.
Despite food being available in the Vanni, the lack of income for most people perpetuates dependency on government dry rations and war conditions hamper a permanent economy. Promoting agriculture and self-help projects has been more difficult by the restriction or ban on a number of essential goods. Observers point out the need for a humanitarian policy independent of political or military concerns.
Adding to the problems, there is also a government delay for permits for humanitarian relief. Permits for shelter and other essential materials are pending before the Ministry of Defence for several months. Observers say the humanitarian work of international agencies has been made difficult by such delays.
In Jaffna, the number of people receiving food aid was reduced by 40% from 416,000. On 27 August, following a meeting with a Tamil delegation, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge issued orders that from 1 September, refugees in Army-held areas of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar should receive aid at the same level as in June. The food-cut in LTTE-controlled areas, however, remains.
Meanwhile, it has been discovered that 14,509 tonnes of rice, sugar, lentils and milk food estimated at Rs 310 million ($4.8 million) approved by the ESC during the period April to December 1997, had not reached Jaffna. The Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) has begun an enquiry into the disappearance of food.
Reports say Batticaloa District has been badly hit by the food cut. Earlier, 479 families in refugee camps and 5,316 families living with relatives or friends received food aid. But now, the camp refugees and only 3,151 families outside camps are entitled for assistance. Most of those living with friends or relatives are from contested border areas and cannot be resettled for security reasons. Reports say the deprived families are living on lotus roots and leaves.
Vavuniya came to a standstill on 16 August by a hartal or general strike against fuel cuts, organised by Tamil group PLOTE. The Defence Ministry introduced the cuts saying that fuel was reaching the LTTE in the Vanni through Vavuniya. Fuel has also been cut to the Vanni. Kilinochchi District needs 3,555 barrels of kerosene a month, but the government allowed only 2,500 barrels which was later reduced to 1,000. In August, only 515 barrels were supplied to the district.
In early August, thousands of people began demonstrations before offices of the ICRC, UNHCR and other international agencies at Mallavi in the Vanni, some of which ended in violence. Government offices were forced to close temporarily as a result of the protests. UNHCR Colombo representative Bo Schack says that inter-governmental agencies and international NGOs cannot be blamed because the government has made it clear that it is solely responsible for food supply to the war zone.