Panafrican News Agency

Ethiopian crisis: Tigray authorities deny fuel raid as hostilities resume amid humanitarian crisis

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The Tigray authorities on Thursday denied raiding 12 fuel tankers from a World Food Program (WFP) warehouse in the northern Ethiopia region, saying it took back fuel advanced earlier to the UN body to restore electricity.

The WFP on Thursday asked the Tigrayan authorities to immediately return stollen fuel stocks to the humanitarian community.

Mr. David Beasley, Executive Director of WFP narrated that on Wednesday morning, a group of armed men entered WFP’s compound in Mekelle and "forcibly seized" 12 tankers filled with over half a million litres of fuel.  

"This fuel had recently been purchased by WFP and arrived just days before it was stollen. Without it, it is impossible for WFP to distribute food, fertiliser, medicines and other emergency supplies across Tigray," he said. 

The Ethiopian government also said on Thursday the renegade Tigray authorities had raided a WFP deport and taken away fuel trucks. 

But the authorities in Tigray said the regional state government had advanced some 600,000 litres of fuel to the WFP to help the UN agency fulfill its urgent humanitarian needs to the people of Tigray.

The Tigray authorities said they required fuel to keep electricity generators running to provide urgent healthcare services running in the middle of renewed hostilities in the region.

Tigray government officials from its External Affairs office said the regional government had provided the fuel to the WFP based on an understanding the fuel would be returned.

The fighting which resumed along the northern Ethiopia border region came as a surprise to international observers who were awaiting the resumption of dialogue between the two warring groups.

The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Dr Workneh Gebeyehu said he was profoundly concerned at reports of hostilities on the border of Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Workneh called for immediate ceasefire and for the parties to privilege dialogue.

The Executive Secretary called on all sides involved to immediately refrain hostilities and escalation and recommit to dialogue to find sustainable peace in the best interest of the people of Ethiopia and the entire region.

The Ethiopian Government condemned what it termed as the theft of 12 tankers and 570,000 liters of fuel by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) from the warehouses of the WFP warehouse.

The alleged incident took place before the resumption of hostilities in the region.

The fuel was intended to transport much needed humanitarian assistance and farming input supplies to beneficiaries in Tigray.

The Ethiopian government alleged the Tigray authorities planned to use the fuel and humanitarian aid to further the TPLF’s recent attack launched in communities around the town of Kobo.

The Ethiopian government alleged the TPLF not only looted, but also imprisoned the staff members of humanitarian partners who resisted the looting.

However, the TPLF said its fighters have been providing round the clock security to the WFP warehouses and that the latest claim of theft would have negative impact on the distribution of food aid in Tigray.

The Federal Government of Ethiopia said it has taken steps to facilitate unhindered flow of humanitarian assistance to people in the Tigray Region since the conflict began, further enhancing this support through the enactment of the humanitarian truce.

“The confidence building measures taken by the Government to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, and expediting assistance to people in the region, have been rebuffed by the TPLF,” the Ethiopian government said in a statement.

-0- PANA AO/MA 25Aug2022