The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Harare

Zimbabwe's government ordered aid groups to halt operations in a move that could hamper food deliveries in the impoverished nation where millions depend on outside help.

Aid groups in Zimbabwe were sent a memorandum from social welfare minister Nicholas Goche on Thursday ordering an indefinite suspension of field work. Zimbabwe has been accused of using food aid as a political weapon.

Also Thursday, a mob believed loyal to President Robert Mugabe waylaid a convoy of American and British diplomats near the Zimbabwean capital, beating a local staffer, slashing tires and threatening to burn the envoys, the U.S. Embassy said.

The diplomats were looking into political violence before a presidential election runoff, and Thursday's incident was the latest sign of how tense Zimbabwe is as Mugabe prepares to face an opposition leader who led voting in the first round.

Opposition and human rights groups also accuse Mugabe of orchestrating violence to ensure he wins re-election amid growing unpopularity for his heavy-handed rule and the country's economic collapse. Police held the president's runoff rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, for nine hours Wednesday.

Officials in Washington and London said the diplomats were returning from a trip to investigate violence in northern Zimbabwe when they were stopped at a roadblock on the outskirts of Harare, the capital.

The convoy was halted for some six hours before it was allowed to drive on.

U.S. Ambassador James McGee, who was not with the convoy, said police and military officers detained the diplomats in an "illegal action." He said they were assisted by a crowd of "war veterans," a group whose members purportedly fought in Zimbabwe's independence war and are Mugabe's fiercest and most violent supporters.