In early December, the Army introduced a new rule requiring people from LTTE areas entering Muthur to be in possession of identity cards. Farmers arriving to sell their produce are being turned away. Local Grama Sevakas (Village Headmen) say that 90% of the people living in villages east of Muthur have not been issued identity cards.
The ship Lanka Muditha arrived in Trincomalee on 12 December from Jaffna with 1,200 passengers and left for the peninsula with 782 people, including 267 refugees. A further 1,016 people left for Jaffna on 18 December. Over 190 refugees arrived in Trincomalee from Mannar in mid December.
In Mannar District, farmers say that if they are not supplied the 6,700 barrels of kerosene needed for the cultivation of 14,500 acres of land, food production in the area will be drastically affected. Security was tightened in early December on Mannar Island following reports of LTTE infiltration. Five Tigers were killed in an accidental bomb blast at Vidataltivu on 19 December.