On Tuesday, Ethiopia's parliament adopted a controversial bill imposing heavy restrictions on foreign-funded humanitarian aid groups operating in the war- and famine-ravaged country.

Under the new law, any group that draws more than 10 percent of its funding from abroad will be classified as foreign, and thus banned from working on issues related to ethnicity, gender, children's rights and conflict resolution.

"As far as we're concerned, it's an attempt by the ruling party to banish all those it sees as a threat to its tight grip on power," opposition MP Temesgen Zewdie told lawmakers before the vote.

The new legislation also provides for the creation of a state-controlled agency that supervises the work of foreign aid organisations.

But government officials insisted that the law was not devised to hamper the activities of NGOs but to safeguard the rights and interests of citizens.

Both the United States and Britain, key aid contributors to the Horn of Africa nation, have raised their concerns over the legislation, but government official Hailemariam voiced confidence that ties with the West would remain intact.

Source: Agence France-Presse