Her husband's presence at a UN summit of food has sparked an international outcry, but that hasn't diverted Grace Mugabe from indulging in her favourite pastime - shopping for shoes.

The 44-year-old was whisked away from the luxury hotel where she, her husband and his entourage are staying to splash out on luxury footwear.

Mrs Mugabe has to make the most of her time in Rome, an EU travel ban means she might not be back any time soon.

Bargain hunt: Grace Mugabe leaves her hotel in Rome with her bodyguards at the start of her shopping trip

Secret stash: Mrs Mugabe tried to keep a low profile as she left a luxury shoe shop in Central Rome. She only wear Farragamo

Grace, whois 40 years younger than her husband, has come to represent everything that is wrong with Mugabe's tyrannical regime.

Southern Africa's answer to Imelda Marcos, she is known in Zimbabwe as The First Shopper, a woman who has spent millions on foreign shopping trips, a sprawling home dubbed Gracelands and a jet once owned by Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner.

Asked why she spends thousands on Ferragamo shoes while her people starved, she replied simply: "I have very narrow feet, so I wear only Ferragamo."

Zimbabweans inside and outside the regime blame Grace, a former secretary of her husband, for encouraging his extreme views.

They claim he has been under her spell since the couple began an affair while they were both married.

Grace was then in her early 20s and the mother of a young child. But she was happy to jettison her family for a life of comfort with Mugabe.

Meanwhile, her husband's government has been accused of using food as a weapon ahead of Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election on June 27.

The accusation came a day after CARE International said the government had ordered it to suspend its operations in Zimbabwe over allegations it was backing opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's presidential campaign. It denies the charge.

Other humanitarian groups have been told to stop their work for the same reasons, the government said on Wednesday. It did not respond to the charge that it was using food for political advantage in the election race.

Scandal: Robert Mugabe made the most of his trip to Rome, claiming Britain was behind his food woes

"The decision to let people go hungry is yet another attempt to use food as a political tool to intimidate voters ahead of an election," said Tiseke Kasambala, the rights group's researcher for Zimbabwe.

"President Mugabe's government has a long history of using food to control the election outcome."

Zimbabwe's once prosperous agricultural sector has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe's government began seizing thousands of white-owned farms as part of a land redistribution policy designed to help poor blacks.

Many of the farms have ended up in the hands of senior officials with Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and other supporters, while others have been tilled by farmers who lack experience and capital.

Zimbabwe now suffers chronic shortages of meat, milk, bread and other basic foodstuffs and relies on imports and handouts from foreign governments and relief agencies to feed its people.

Mugabe blames the country's economic collapse on sanctions imposed by foes in the West.

Food crisis: A hawker sells bananas at 100 million Zimbabwe dollars (15 pence) a bunch at a market in Harare yesterday

CARE had planned to start a food distribution programme in Zimbabwe before it was suspended last week, said Ken Walker, the group's communications manager for Africa. He said CARE had 300 people working on various projects in Zimbabwe.

A senior Zimbabwean official said that CARE and other suspended non-governmental agencies would only be allowed to pursue their work if they swore off involvement in politics.

"If they want to continue with their programmes, they know what to do. They must choose between politics and genuine humanitarian work," Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said, adding that Zimbabwe did not want to rely on NGOs.

Mugabe faces a tough battle in the election run-off against Tsvangirai, who defeated the veteran ruler in the March 29 presidential poll, but did not win enough votes to avoid a second round.

The opposition accuses Mugabe's supporters of a campaign of violence and says more than 50 people have been killed since the first round vote. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF say the opposition is responsible for violence.