Some international aid groups in Zimbabwe have been ordered to suspend their operations, leaving thousands of Zimbabweans without access to food and humanitarian assistance, the International Herald Tribune reports (iht.com, 6/4).

The government has ordered CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc.), one of the largest nonprofits providing assistance in Zimbabwe, to stop its operations amid accusations that the group backs the regime’s political opposition. Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, accused the organization and other groups of interfering in politics, saying that the West conspired “to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy” and encourage “illegal regime change.”

According to the article, CARE would have fed more than 110,000 people in the country in need of assistance.