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Jaffna civilians expect

major attack: UN

COLOMBO: Tamil civilians in the rebel-held north of Sri Lanka are hungry and angry and expecting the armed forces to launch a major attack, a United Nations official told Reuters on Wednesday after a visit to the Jaffna peninsula.

Roland Hodson, humanitarian adviser at the Colombo mission of the U.N. Development Programme, said the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and civilians appeared to be preparing to resist an attack. He did not elaborate.

"The civilians are expecting a major offensive on Jaffna town" for the first time since an Indian peace-keeping force took the town in October 1987, Hodson said.

Hodson said he had met the LTTE ideologist Anton Balasingham and his wife and LTTE political affairs adviser Thamil Chelvam.

"We had long discussions for several hours but the contents have to be confidential," Hodson told Reuters, adding that civilians had appealed to him to try to find an end to the conflict which has raged since 1983.

He said the people in Jaffna were angry with the armed forces who say they are trying to "liberate" the peninsula from the LTTE who broke a ceasefire with the government on April 19 and have since stepped up attacks.

"The anger is focused on indiscriminate shelling and an economic food embargo," Hodson said, adding that the feeling was widespread.

He said food was in very short supply. "Unless the situation changes there will be a very serious problem."

The International Committee of the Red Cross this week agreed to resume its escort service for government food ships to the north, which had been suspended while security guarantees from the warring parties were clarified.

The ICRC, which had been protecting six ships transporting a monthly average of 10,000 tonnes of supplies provided by the government for Jaffna civilians, says it was forced to suspend operations after its own ship hit a mine.

Defence officials say recent attacks in the east by the LTTE, fighting for a homeland in the north and east, appear to be an attempt to divert the army's attention away from an expected offensive against Jaffna before the monsoon rains set in.

Sea Tigers are believed to have hijacked a ferry carrying 120 passengers travelling from the east to the north, military sources said on Wednesday.-Reuter