Ethiopia expels UK, Australian aid staff

(Adds government comment)

ADDIS ABABA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has expelled an Australian and a Briton working for Save the Children UK on accusations of diverting food aid to rebels in the troubled Ogaden region, officials and aid sources said on Friday.

The Ethiopian army has this year been carrying out an offensive against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebel movement in the remote eastern region bordering Somalia.

Several aid organisations were ordered out in July, but the Ethiopian government has since then relaxed restrictions, and licensed the United Nations and 19 agencies to work there amid fears of a humanitarian crisis fuelled by the fighting.

Government sources said the pair had abused their position.

"The two foreigners were expelled because they were involved in an attempt to divert food aid to rebels," one told Reuters.

The worst-hit areas in the conflict have been the most difficult for aid workers to access.

Save the Children -- which has been working in Ethiopia since 1932, and runs education, livestock and sanitation projects in Ogaden -- gave no version of events on Friday.

But aid workers in Addis Ababa confirmed the pair's exit.

"They have been working in Ogaden on business visas, but were then refused additional work permits and asked to leave," said one humanitarian worker, who asked not to be named. (Reporting by Barry Malone and Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Catherine Evans)