UN rejects Mugabe's claim Zimbabwe's cholera over
Eliane EngelerThe United Nations chief rejected Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's claims that a cholera epidemic was under control and said Friday that responsibility lay with the country's leaders.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disturbed at the deteriorating humanitarian situation there, for which the leadership of Zimbabwe cannot evade responsibility."
Mugabe had said the outbreak in his country was contained with the help of aid agencies.
Ban said that he had been closely following the situation and "cannot agree" with Mugabe's assessment.
"The reports I have been receiving ... are alarming," Ban told reporters. "There are still many people who are suffering from this epidemic."
The World Health Organization said the cholera death toll in Zimbabwe had risen to 792 people and that the number of cholera cases that have been reported since the outbreak began in August was now 16,700.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said "I don't think that the cholera outbreak is under control."
The epidemic has reached a fatality rate of 4.7 percent. To be under control it would have to be less than 1 percent, she said.
Cholera has spread rapidly in Zimbabwe because of its crumbling health-care system and economy, food shortages and a lack of clean water after decades of Mugabe's rule.
South Africa has reported 750 cholera cases and 11 deaths from the disease, according to WHO.
"The borders between Zimbabwe and neighboring countries are now in danger of being affected by this cholera," Ban said. "We will continue to monitor and try to help those people," Ban added.
A small number of cases have also been reported in Botswana and Mozambique, Chaib told reporters.
But she said she was unable to tell if the cases in neighboring countries had spread from Zimbabwe.
The cooperation with Zimbabwe's health ministry so far has been calm and without problems, Chaib said.
But much more aid is needed from the government and donors to stem the outbreak, she said.
"The needs in this country are immense and it is certainly not only the WHO that can overcome it. It is first of all the government of Zimbabwe and also the international partners and donors," Chaib said.
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Associated Press writer Alexander G. Higgins contributed to the report.