ROME (Reuters) - The U.N. emergency food aid agency needs $1 billion (597 million pounds) to feed 20 million people in east Africa over the next six months, it said on Wednesday.

Around half of that money is needed for Ethiopia alone, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, director of emergencies at the World Food Programme said on the sidelines of a U.N. summit on global hunger in Rome.

The country that boasts the source of the Blue Nile, tumbling out of the sparkling waters of Lake Tana, is synonymous in the West with drought and famine.

No wonder Ethiopian government ministers cringe whenever the topic comes up. They would prefer to talk about undoubted achievements — impressive economic growth rates, smart new roads and buildings, a streamlined efficient civil service, increased exports, reduced defence expenditure and so on.

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Ethiopia should investigate allegations that local officials are keeping food aid from opposition members to force them to join the ruling party ahead of national elections, a British aid minister said on Tuesday.

An opposition coalition last week said its members were being refused places on a long-running food-for-work scheme for more than 7 million hungry people to force them to join the governing party before the elections in May next year.