Accused of genocide, callous contempt for life and deliberately causing starvation, the Zimbabwean Government faced an outpouring of international anger yesterday after its decision to halt all aid operations in the country in the run-up to the deciding presidential vote.

Foreign agencies and governments raised fears of dire consequences for the already fragile humanitarian situation if the ban was not lifted.

The United Nations said that the decision spelt disaster for four million Zimbabweans dependent on food aid after the collapse of the agricultural sector. Douglas Alexander, the British Secretary of State for International Development, accused President Mugabe of “callous contempt” for the poorest and most vulnerable Zimbabweans.

“To use the threat of hunger as a political weapon shows a callous contempt for human life,” he said. “This indefensible decision, which seems to be part of strategy ahead of the presidential run-off, demonstrated to the world the lengths to which Mugabe will go to cling to power.”

The latest outrage came at the end of a week of deepening crisis in Zimbabwe. The election campaign of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was effectively stopped in its tracks yesterday after police banned him from holding further rallies on the ground that they could not ensure his safety.

Mr Tsvangirai was arrested for the second time this week after being blocked from reaching a campaign rally on orders that “came straight from the top”, according to Nelson Chamisa, the spokesman for his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The opposition leader beat Mr Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll but long-delayed and much discredited official results awarded him fewer votes than required to avoid the run-off. Since then the Mugabe regime has launched an unrelenting campaign of violence against opposition members and supporters in which more than 2,500 have been wounded. The death toll from the violence rose to 68 yesterday with the discovery of the body of a headmaster abducted from his school three days earlier.

James McGee, the US Ambassador whose diplomats were caught up in a violent confrontation with police and ruling party youth militia on Thursday, described the takeover of food aid distribution as the latest tactic in the campaign of intimidation.

In a video conference with journalists in Washington, Mr McGee explained that if potential voters wanted food aid they had to show their voting cards, which indicated whether they belonged to the ruling Zanu (PF) party or the MDC. “If you have an MDC card, you can receive food but first you have to give the national identity card to the government officials, which means they will hold on to it until after the election,” Mr McGee said. “Again, you will not be able to vote.”

Supporters of the ruling party could keep their identity cards and so were free to vote. “The only way you can access food is to give up your right to vote,” Mr McGee said.

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