Zimbabwe suspends CARE

HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 3 (UPI) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused the aid group CARE of campaigning against him and ordered it to suspend operations in the country.

CARE, which has been in Zimbabwe since 1992, has about 300 employees. It told its staff to remain at home while the government investigates the allegations, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Mugabe, speaking at a U.N. food conference in Rome, charged that CARE and other international aid groups are fronts for Western countries trying to undermine his government.

"Funds are being channeled through non-governmental organizations to opposition political parties, which are a creation of the West," he said. "These Western-funded NGOs also use food as a political weapon with which to campaign against government, especially in the

rural areas."

CARE denies claims that its staff campaigned for the Movement for Democratic Change.

About 500,000 people in Zimbabwe receive aid from CARE, including more than 100,000 living in schools, orphanages and elderly housing.