The money could not come at a better time, aid officials say.

Legal Aid officials said the mother had made her husband leave the house after learning of the girl's charges.

"They simply expect us to give them money with no questions asked," one foreign aid official said.

"It takes a whole year to do what should take only a month," an aid official said.

Aid officials also say the foreign soldiers may be able to help if there is violence.

Legal Aid officials said yesterday that the girl told them then she wanted to go back there.

More than 5,000 people have died of hunger in the last four months, aid officials say.

"We have met their physical needs," a European aid official said.

"The Americans are telling them don't fight or the money won't come in," one aid official said.

I've been here for three years as an aid official, and exclusion is part of life.