The agency admitted that agreeing to this "was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined."

Cell phones account for about half of all operating revenue in China's telecom industry, with short message and wireless Internet services seen as important growth sectors, the agency said.

The World Food Program's Samkange says normally his agency aims to have enough food and supplies in stock to cover three months, but at the moment they are operating on a month-by-month basis.