Harare  - The Zimbabwe government finally yielded Friday to major pressure and announced it was lifting a three-month ban on the distribution of food aid in the hunger-stricken country, according to state radio.

A bulletin quoted a statement from the welfare ministry as saying that the government had "with immediate effect lifted the suspension of operations of private voluntary organizations and non-governmental organizations."

These included those involved in "humanitarian food assistance, relief, recovery and development, childcare and protection and the rights of people with disabilities."

Shortly after the launch of a bloody campaign for a second-round presidential election on July 29, Mugabe ordered aid agencies to halt their operations, claiming some were using food to persuade rural people in stricken areas to vote for the Movement for Democratic Change.

The regime provided no evidence of the allegation. Observers pointed out there was abundant evidence of the government refusing food to hungry MDC supporters, forcing people to produce cards of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party before they could be given food, or handing out maize at party rallies.

"Only Zanu-PF people have a better life, because the government gives them food," said Effie Ncube, director of a small aid agency in the western city of Bulawayo. "The majority support the opposition (the MDC) and the majority are being starved by the government."

About 2 million people will need food aid from this month to avoid starvation after the worst crop harvest in Zimbabwe since 1980, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. By January, the number needing aid is expected to swell to 5 million, according to the Red Cross.

A recent survey by the World Health Organization found that 29 percent of Zimbabweans suffer from "chronic malnutrition" and a similar number of young children suffer stunted growth.

International and local donor agencies have been pleading with government to relax the ban to allow them to carry out emergency feeding for hundreds of thousands of children under five, as well as for HIV/AIDS patients, and the elderly.

As part of power-sharing talks with the MDC, Mugabe on July 21 signed an agreement in which he agreed to allow humanitarian aid to resume. He had ignored the undertaking until now.

He relented as the stalled talks resumed among party negotiators in South Africa. (dpa)