East Timor's government, angered by published reports of famine deaths it denies, has severed relations with one of the country's two daily newspapers, Suara Timor Lorosae.

"It is our right to maintain relations with serious and independent media and not with propagandists that have no objectivity", Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told Lusa Thursday, explaining the government's cutting relations with the newspaper.

Suara's deputy director, Domingos Saldanha, said the official "blackout" against his publication was impacting on its advertisement revenue but that the paper would not bow to "power pressure".

The dispute arose after Suara, or "voice" in English, reported that 53 people recently died from hunger in the village of Hatubuiliko in Ainaro district.

The paper cited a local administrator, who said it was the second time in two years that famine had claimed lives in the area, as its source for the story.

Dili's state secretary for labor and welfare, Arsénio Bano, denied the report.

Bano acknowledged that about 20,000 people in that area faced food problems due to a lack of rains and delayed harvests, but denied there was a famine or that people had died from hunger. - PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH ONLINE