Ethiopian officials and an aid agency have denied a BBC report that millions of dollars raised in 1984 for the Ethiopian famine was siphoned off to buy weapons.

According to a senior member of Ethiopia's ruling coalition, Abadi Zemo, the BBC allegations are nonsensical.

The charity Christian Aid announced on Wednesday that its "investigations do not correspond to the BBC's version of events."

On Wednesday, a BBC investigation reported that millions of dollars of international aid intended to buy food for starving Ethiopians during the country's mid-1980s famine was diverted to rebels to buy weapons in the African country.

The report said that the Ethiopian rebel soldiers disguised themselves as grain traders and handed over sacks of sand hidden beneath genuine food aid in return for cash from Western donations.