Vaudine England, Jakarta – Food shortages are cutting into daily life in the Maluku Islands, as fighting between communities and religious groups continues in the north.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said shortages were growing serious for displaced people in North Maluku.

The programme's Indonesian director, Philip Clarke, who led a fact-finding mission to the province, said: "There are almost 100,000 people in North Maluku who have had no regular supply of food since the fighting broke out in November." His concern was supported by reports from residents who fled Halmahera Island.

Two weeks ago, a woman who left her home in the northern town of Tobelo said: "They will be short of food in Tobelo within days. Even if they had enough for themselves at first, it's not enough for all the refugees."

Another source from Halmahera said government aid had reached only the southern fringe of North Maluku, the largely Muslim areas of Ternate, Tidore and Jailolo.

"There has been no food supply to Tobelo and Kao, and now there are so many Christian refugees coming up from the south, it is getting very bad," the source said.

On most islands, distribution and production systems were disrupted or destroyed as communities divided along religious and ethnic lines.

North Maluku Governor Surasmin said the fighting and flight of refugees, which began in December, had seriously hampered the movement of goods.

"Over the past few months, trade came to a virtual standstill as most of the traders abandoned North Maluku," he said. To compound the problem, pirates are intercepting food supplies for refugees in North Maluku.

Some 1,500 Muslim protesters called for a holy war and stoned a church in Yogyakarta, Java, yesterday, after demanding the Government stop sectarian violence in eastern Indonesia.