Together with the World Food Program, Ethiopia's government has denounced Tigrayan forces for reportedly stealing more than 500,000 gallons of petroleum intended for distributing food supplies.
The U.N.'s World Food Program chief, David Beasley, said on Twitter on Thursday that Tigrayan forces took 570,000 litres of water intended for distribution of humanitarian food in Ethiopia's troubled Tigray area.
In a statement, the government demanded that the fuel be returned and that the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, be dealt with by the international humanitarian community. The government has been fighting the TPLF for nearly two years.
The news comes after a five-month-old cease-fire came to an end Wednesday, with the government and TPLF blaming each other for a new offensive in the north of the country.
Tigray has been under a humanitarian blockade for around eight months. Humanitarian organizations say parts of the region are likely in a state of famine due to a lack of aid, the distribution of which is exacerbated by fuel shortages.
Kjetil Tronvoll, a professor at Oslo New University College and an expert on the Ethiopian conflict, said on Twitter that a U.N. situation report stated the fuel had been loaned from Tigray authorities and claimed, therefore, that the TPLF was within its rights to take the fuel.
A TPLF spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.