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Zimbabweans have been given the stark choice of eating or voting, as Robert Mugabe tightened his grip ahead of the final round of voting in presidential elections.
The US ambassador to Harare, James McGee, said that President Mugabe was using food as a "political weapon", allowing members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change food aid only if they handed over their voting cards.
The claim came after the regime banned all overseas aid agencies and non-government organisations from working in Zimbabwe, ending the food relief they provide to millions of dependent Zimbabweans.
Mr McGee said the government was trying to become the sole distributor of food to help President Mugabe win the election in three weeks' time.
"If you have an MDC card, you can receive food, but first you have to give your national identity card to government officials. This means they will hold on to it until after the election," Mr McGee said.
"The only way you can access food is to give up your right to vote. It is absolutely illegal. We are dealing with a desperate regime here which will do anything to stay in power," he said.
The government said the groups had been banned for "operating politically" and supporting the MDC.
Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, said the use of "hunger as a political weapon shows a callous contempt for human life".
Human rights workers meanwhile said the order would also prevent there being "human witness" to attacks on opposition supporters by the police, army and so-called "war veterans".
Care International's Africa spokesman, Kenneth Walker, said the order will affect the people "very badly".
"All of the NGOs together provide some very basic services to several million Zimbabweans," he said.
"Nobody is going to starve to death tomorrow," Mr Walker said. "But obviously the longer the suspension remains, the more dire the circumstances become."
The ban came on the same day as police arrested and detained MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the second time this week, preventing him from campaigning. He was released after being held for nearly three hours.
The regime also announced that all opposition rallies were banned.
Tendai Biti, the MDC secretary-general told the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town that the Mugabe regime was "increasing the decibels of insanity".
"It is almost as if the regime is sending out a message to the region and to the international community that it doesn't care, that it has no respect for life or for the rule of law," Mr Biti said.
The MDC says that at least 65 of its officials had been killed by state agents in the past three weeks. Many hundreds of villagers suspected of having voted for the MDC have been injured, harassed and had their homes burned down by thugs.
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