Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s government is sending food and medicine by sea to civilians sheltering on the northeastern coast to escape fighting between the army and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“We have to find an alternative route to provide food for the internally displaced people since road transportation is impossible,” S. Divaratna, the commissioner general for essential services, said late yesterday in Colombo, according to the Defense Ministry.

Two vessels will leave the eastern port of Trincomalee as early as today to supply people taking refuge in a 12-kilometer (7-mile) coastal strip north of Mullaitivu, Divaratna said.

An estimated 250,000 civilians are in combat zones in Sri Lanka’s northern Wanni region and about 30,000 have taken refuge in no-fire areas declared by security forces, the United Nations says. The army says it has driven the Tamil Tigers from their main bases since January into a 100-square kilometer region in the northeast.

The government plans to send a second delivery of aid, including flour, milk, sugar and medicines on Feb. 19, Divaratna said, adding the sea route will be used until roads to the safe zones are opened.

The shipments will be sent under the flag of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has used one of the vessels three times in a week to bring wounded civilians to Trincomalee, the commissioner said.

The head of ICRC delegation, Paul Castella, today met the army chief, Sarath Foseka, to discuss ways to evacuate civilians, the Media Centre for National Security said.

Cease-Fire Appeal

The UN’s office in Colombo two days ago appealed to the government and LTTE to stop fighting, saying civilians are being killed in the no-fire zones declared in the north.

The LTTE is preventing people from leaving such areas and “reports indicate that a growing number of people have been shot and sometimes killed,” the office said.

A growing number of children are being recruited by the LTTE and scores of children are being killed or injured in the fighting, the UN Children’s Fund, Unicef, said yesterday.

“We have clear indications that the LTTE has intensified forcible recruitment of civilians and that children as young as 14 years old are now being targeted,” Philippe Duamelle, Unicef’s representative in Sri Lanka, said in a statement.

Unicef has recorded more than 6,000 cases of children being recruited by the LTTE between 2003 and the end of 2008, according to the statement.

‘Double Standards’

An average of 40 civilians, including women and children, are being killed every day in the government’s safe zones, the LTTE said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.

Sri Lanka’s government is engaged in a policy of “double standards” by justifying its continuing war against the Tamil Tigers while worrying about civilian casualties, B. Nadesan, the LTTE’s political chief, told the TamilNet news agency in the north yesterday.

“The international agencies and world governments, concerned about the plight of civilians, should therefore prevail on the Sri Lankan government to stop the war,” Nadesan said. The LTTE is always prepared for negotiations on a peace settlement, he added.

The UN has failed to support civilians and is “engaged in fruitless exercises of accusing the wrong side without coming and seeing what is happening by themselves,” Nadesan said.

He denied that the Tamil Tigers are recruiting people under 18 years old and said civilians remain in LTTE-held territory of their own free will.

Negotiated Settlement

India supports a negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka and stands for an “undivided” country with rights for its minority Tamils, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told lawmakers in parliament today. India will work with Sri Lanka for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of civilians in the north and east of the country.

India is ready to facilitate evacuation of civilians, working with the Sri Lankan government, and the International Committee of Red Cross would take responsibility for the security, screening and rehabilitation of the refugees, Mukherjee said, according to an e-mailed statement.

“As the conflict enters what may be the final phase of military operations, the LTTE would best serve the interest of the Tamils by immediately releasing all civilians and laying down arms,” Mukherjee said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has vowed to continue its military drive to end the 26-year conflict and is demanding the LTTE’s “unconditional surrender.”

Military operations will be carried out “without harassment to the civilian population,” Rajapaksa told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Feb. 5.

The LTTE, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India, is fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 18, 2009 05:11 EST