NIAMEY, July 24 (Reuters) - Niger has ordered medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to stop its work with malnourished children in the south of the West African desert state, MSF said on Thursday.

The Paris-based group, which had been in the town of Maradi treating children under the age of five who are affected by malnutrition, said it was not given any reasons for the decree, the second such decision taken by Niger in less than a year.

"It was a decree from the Ministry of the Interior suspending our authorisation to work there," an MSF spokesman said.

MSF was informed of the decision on Tuesday, he said.

Last October, Niger ordered MSF to halt its activities in Agadez, where a Tuareg-led rebellion is underway, after several of the charity's vehicles were hijacked.

Tuaregs are demanding a greater share of the country's natural resources, notably uranium, which is attracting foreign investment, particularly from France and China, as governments seek alternatives to fossil fuels for power generation.

Maradi, around 600 km (370 miles) east of the capital Niamey, is not near the area of conflict. It records the highest number of malnourished children in Niger each year.

According to a survey carried out in Niger in late June, 1,487 of the 3,767 children found suffering from malnutrition were in Maradi.

(Reporting by Abdoulaye Massalatchi; Writing and additional reporting by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by Richard Williams)

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