Aid groups to probe charges by Ethiopia opposition

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Aid workers in Ethiopia will investigate how foreign humanitarian relief supplies are delivered after opposition political parties alleged that their members were being denied food ahead of elections in May.

A coalition of eight opposition parties called Medrek, or the Forum, accuses some officials of only allowing ruling party members to benefit from a long running food-for-work programme that helps more than seven million Ethiopians survive.

The authorities have denied the allegations by Medrek, which analysts view as the most potent threat at the ballot box to the almost 20-year-old government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

"A number of foreign aid organisations are going to examine the system here together," a senior aid official based in Addis Ababa, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

Foreign charities rarely criticise the government in public because their staff have been expelled from the country and barred from certain areas. The authorities say 6.2 million Ethiopians will need emergency food this year -- on top of the more than seven million on the food-for-work scheme.

Aid workers would not confirm which agencies would be involved in the probe, but said that the aid departments of some Western donor governments would take part. The World Bank is the main funder of the food-for-work scheme -- known as the safety net programme -- followed by Britain and the United States.

The senior aid official said donors believed the problems were at a regional level, with local officials settling scores.

"But, at the moment, we don't believe it's sanctioned at the highest levels of government," the senior official said.