| A Red Cross ship has left the Sri Lankan capital, | | | | government's peace secretariat, places the blame |
| carrying food and essential supplies for tens of | | | | for the humanitarian crisis firmly on the Tamil |
| thousands of civilians trapped on the Jaffna | | | | Tigers, also known as the L.T.T.E. |
| Peninsula by fighting between government troops | | | | "Of course the unfortunate part of this is that the |
| and the Tamil Tiger rebels. The Red Cross also | | | | L.T.T.E. callously creates the problem and leaves it |
| says it will evacuate foreign nationals from the | | | | to the government to resolve. And the |
| region. | | | | government, because it is a responsible |
| Aid officials say the cargo ship provided by the Sri | | | | government, has taken up this challenge and is |
| Lankan government is carrying 1,500 tons of food | | | | providing relief supplies," Kohona said. |
| and 15 tons of medical supplies. It is intended to | | | | The ship left late Tuesday and is expected to |
| help 350,000 people on the Jaffna Peninsula facing | | | | arrive in Jaffna Thursday. Officials say bad |
| food shortages. | | | | weather kept it from setting sail on Saturday or |
| The ship is flying a Red Cross flag. After delivering | | | | Sunday. |
| the supplies, it is expected to evacuate foreign | | | | The Tamil Tigers blame the government for the |
| nationals - most of them aid workers. They have | | | | recent surge in fighting, which has led to the aid |
| been trapped in Jaffna by nearly two weeks of | | | | crisis. |
| fighting between the Sri Lankan government and | | | | Officials say they hope to return most of the |
| the Tamil Tigers. | | | | people displaced by fighting to their homes before |
| Jaffna is the second front to open in less than a | | | | the rainy season begins in northern and eastern |
| month, calling into question a 2002 cease fire | | | | Sri Lanka in the next month. |
| agreement that both sides claim to uphold. | | | | Officials say fighting in Jaffna has eased in the |
| The fighting began last month in Trincomalee | | | | past three days after 12 days of fierce clashes. |
| district on the east coast, over control of a water | | | | Fears are high that the renewed fighting could |
| reservoir. | | | | plunge Sri Lanka back into its civil war, which |
| The United Nations estimates that the clashes | | | | began in 1983. The Tamil Tigers started their |
| have driven at least 170 thousand civilians from | | | | armed campaign against the government because |
| their homes to the safety of refugee camps, | | | | of what they say is oppression of the ethnic |
| where provisions are scarce. | | | | Tamil minority by the Sinhalese majority. |
| Palitha Kohona, the secretary-general of the | | | | |