Short Fuel = Diminished Tigray Aid: Agencies

Ethiopia on Thursday described fuel shortages in the war-wracked Tigray region as a "myth" and accused Tigrayan rebels of seeking to launch a new offensive.

After a visit to Tigray's capital Mekele, the European commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarcic on Tuesday urged the government to lift "without delay" the restrictions on Tigray, particularly on the supply of fuel.

The situation in hospitals was especially critical, the EU envoy added, pointing to both the absence of electricity and the lack of fuel.

Tigrayans are in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, according to the UN, and have for months been without access to basic services such as electricity, telecommunications, internet and banking.

Following a three-month hiatus, the government in April authorized the delivery of desperately needed aid by land to Tigray, which has long been under what the UN has described as a de facto blockade.

On Thursday, Ethiopia's government communications service said three tankers carrying more than 137,000 liters of fuel had arrived in Mekele last week.

The total amount of fuel sent to the region stood at 920,309 liters since aid convoys resumed in April, it said on Twitter.

"The myth of fuel shortage is a TPLF hidden agenda to enhance mobility of its army in preparation for another round of conflict," the government said, referring to the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

Claire Nevill, a WFP spokeswoman in Ethiopia, told AFP that humanitarian operations in Tigray required two million liters of fuel each month, while one million liters had entered the region through WFP-led convoys.

"Now we have a situation where humanitarian warehouses in Mekele are full, but people out there in the countryside are still hungry," Lenarcic said.

The conflict began in November 2020 when the government sent federal troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, the region's former ruling party, saying it was in response to rebel attacks on army camps.

After the TPLF mounted a shock comeback, retaking Tigray and then expanding into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, fighting intensified in the second half of 2021, before reaching a stalemate.