afrol News, 23 July - Ethiopia has suspended operations of 42 non-governmental organisations accused of interrupting the peace and development of the Southern region of the country.

The authorities, who could not list the names of the suspended organisations, said the organisations were involved in activities that are out of their mandate. Reports have however said most of the suspended NGOs were local.

Reports said the Ethiopian government moved to revoke the licenses of the NGOs following accusation of their alleged involvement in reporting human rights abuses in the rural areas, in which government had dismissed as malice.

The Ethiopian government publicly accused some NGOs of supplying inaccurate information to the United States' state department report, which was published in March 2009.

Meanwhile, United Nations humanitarian office in Ethiopia has warned that the number of people who need food aid in Ethiopia will increase to 6.2 million unless more food aid can be secured for the Horn of Africa state.

According to UN, the recent number of people requiring food aid has been 4.9 million and now the country needs additional 390,000 metric tonnes of emergency food aid for the coming three months.

Ethiopia leads the region by registering an average 10 percent annual economic growth, has been avowed to end hunger but has achieved less success.

By staff writer

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