UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28: Some 600,000 inhabitants of Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula, already buffeted by decades of conflict, are now facing food and fuel shortages as a result of a recent upsurge in fighting between the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan armed forces, according to a report compiled by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

Many people have no work, and transportation into Jaffna is currently limited to air and sea, Unicef said in the report. Queues form outside food shops. Although the government is continuing to bring in supplies by ship and has set up a rationing system, almost everyone talks about shortages of flour, rice, sugar and lentils. On the black market, sugar and petrol are now about four times their normal prices.

More than 50,000 people have been displaced across the peninsula since hostilities resumed between the LTTE and government forces.