Washed up as tide of war turns again

ARICHAL MUNAI, India - They wade through the surf, their suitcases on their heads and plastic bags in their hands, refugees from war in their homeland.

Behind them, the small fishing dinghy that brought them is already speeding away through the waves.

Every day, boatloads of Sri Lankans arrive on the shores of southern India, leaving their fields and fishing boats behind and even selling their jewellery to pay for the passage.

And as conflict and fear escalate, what started as a trickle of refugees in January is turning into a flood - about 8000 this year, including 785 arriving on Sunday and Monday alone on this narrow spit of sand which juts out from a small island on India's southeastern coast.

They are men like Chinnathambi Pakiaraja, cradling his 15-month-old daughter in his arms, overcome with tears as he set foot on the sands of Arichal Munai after a three hour, 29km boat journey.

"There were 14 of us in the boat, and the waves were high," he said. "We got drenched and the children were crying.

"We left our relatives and most of our belongings behind."

The surge in violence since late last year has stoked fears the island is sliding back into civil war after four years of relative peace.

Some 64,000 people died and a million fled their homes during two decades of civil war between the Government and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the island.

The violence flared up in April when the Government launched air strikes against Tamil targets after a suicide bomber injured an army chief and killed nine civilians in Colombo.

Everyone arriving in India has a tale of terror in their homeland, of gunfire and shelling, violence and threats by one side or the other. "The army told us, if there was any incident, any violence by the militants, they would kill my wife, kill my child," said Pakiaraja, a painter from Trincomalee. "How could I take that risk?"

The refugees are from Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority, mostly Hindus heading for the safe haven and relative familiarity of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The conflict has its roots in ethnic tension between the Buddhist Sinhalese majority and the mainly Hindu Tamil minority who accuse the Government of discrimination.

Many of the refugees are fishermen, too scared to ply their trade at home after clashes between the Sri Lankan Navy and the "Sea Tigers", the naval wing of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Tigers and the Government signed a ceasefire in 2002, but in 2003 the Tigers withdrew from peace talks.

Now few feel safe.

"Six or seven families used to sleep huddled together in the open, the sound of gunfire all around us," said 41-year-old Prinsa Lambert from Vankalai in northwestern Sri Lanka.

"We didn't know who was being killed. I can't remember when I last slept in peace."

Lambert first fled her homeland with her husband Devaraja in 1990. Fourteen years later they took advantage of a ceasefire to return home on a ship provided by the United Nations.

They arrived home one day before the Asian tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004, leaving 450,000 Sri Lankans homeless.

"We survived the tsunami," she said. ' "Then war started. It is misery."

Refugees pay anything from 5000 to 8000 Sri Lankan rupees ($79-$126) per person to cross the narrow strait on a fibreglass boat. Most get across safely, but some - like the family of Pushpam Miranda - pay a far higher price.

"The boat was hit by a big wave and overturned," she said. "My husband and the boatman tried to save my sister-in-law's children. But the next wave took them away."

Miranda's 22-year-old son Rothman failed to save his own wife.

"They had been married just the day before we left," she said. "Since we arrived here, he just stares at the sea."

Price of conflict

64,000 people died and a million fled their homes during two decades of civil war between the Government and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for an independent state

The two sides signed a ceasefire in 2002, with the Tigers relaxing their demand for a separate homeland

The Tigers withdrew from peace talks in 2003

Fighting has escalated since late last year, rasing fears the country is returning to civil war

In April the Government launched air strikes against Tamil targets after a suicide bomber injured an army chief and killed nine civilians

- REUTERS