Fighting resumed last week in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region, ending a month’s long cease-fire and burying hopes for a peaceful resolution of the country’s civil war.

The conflict began nearly two years ago and has pitted Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal government against the region’s rulers, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which Addis Ababa has since designated a terrorist organization. So far, as many as half a million Ethiopians have died, and more than 1.6 million people have been displaced.

“Respect for this truce over the past five months has saved countless lives,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in response to the renewed hostilities, which began last Wednesday. He warned that “a return to active conflict would result in widespread suffering, human rights abuses, and further economic hardships.”

Both the Ethiopian government and the TPLF reported fighting between their forces but denied instigating the fighting—blaming the other party.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Defence said in a statement that its Air Force shot down a plane carrying weapons for Tigrayan rebels from neighbouring Sudan on Aug. 24. TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda wrote in a tweet that the statement was “a blatant lie.”

Hostilities have escalated quickly since then. On Friday, UNICEF condemned an airstrike by the Ethiopian government that the organization said “hit a kindergarten, killing several children, and injuring others” in Mekelle, Tigray’s capital. Local medics say at least seven people were killed. International media cannot verify these numbers because the region remains inaccessible to journalists.

“Yet again, an escalation of violence in northern Ethiopia has caused children to pay the heaviest price,” UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell wrote in a tweet.

Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said Tigrayan authorities stole 570,000 litres of fuel from its warehouses in the region last Wednesday, jeopardizing humanitarian operations there. According to the United Nations, supplies of food, medicine, and fuel in Tigray are critically low. The organization says full-blown famine looms in Tigray as East Africa experiences its worst drought in 40 years.

“Millions will starve if we do not have fuel to deliver food,” WFP executive director David Beasley wrote in a tweet condemning the theft. Tigrayan authorities hit back with a statement claiming they had loaned more than 600,000 litres of fuel to the WFP this year.

More:   FP

Pray:

May your peace, that surpasses human understanding, be shed abroad in the hearts of all Ethiopians. (Philippians 4:6-7)

May your peace bring calm among the chaos that has unfolded in different communities throughout the nation of Ethiopia. (1 Corinthians 14:33)

God of peace, we pray too for love, kindness and compassion will lead to reconciliation and lasting peace.  (Ephesians 4:32)