/ 2 February 2009

Zim cholera cases close to 63 000

The number of people infected by Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic has risen to almost 63 000, latest data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed on Monday.

The epidemic, which started in August, has infected 62 909 people, and killed 3 229 others, the WHO said.

Over 2 500 new cases have been added since data released Friday, which showed 60 401 cases and 3 161 deaths.

WHO assistant director-general Eric Laroche called on Friday for drastic action to tackle the outbreak.

Laroche warned the outbreak would continue unabated unless ”political differences are put aside”, impoverished Zimbabwean health workers are paid, and the country’s health system is bolstered.

Talks planned for Tuesday
Meanwhile the country’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said it would meet with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF on Tuesday to resolve ”outstanding issues” and pave the way for a long-delayed unity government.

”There is a meeting tomorrow [Tuesday] to deal with the outstanding issues,” MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told AFP on Monday.

”It remains our fervent hope that the outstanding issues are successfully resolved followed by debate, passing and enactment” of a constitutional amendment to allow the formation of a unity government, he said.

The MDC decided on Friday to join a government of national unity with Mugabe, ending a protracted deadlock more than four months after signing a power-sharing deal.

The constitutional amendment is needed for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a minor MDC breakaway party, to be sworn in respectively as prime minister and deputy prime minister next week.

Tuesday’s meeting of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee will be presided by the three parties.

Some of the outstanding issues raised by Tsvangirai’s MDC are the immediate release of activists and opposition members, equitable allocation of key ministries and posts and the amendment of the Constitution.

The amendment is set to be tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, paving the way for a unity government amid calls from the African Union for international sanctions to be lifted to assist the stricken nation.

Tightening sanctions
European Union foreign ministers last week tightened sanctions on Zimbabwe, freezing the assets of companies based in British tax havens for the first time and adding 26 more names of people close to the Mugabe regime or their families to a travel-ban list, bringing the number to 203.

Zimbabwe has been in meltdown since elections last March when Tsvangirai pushed Mugabe into second place but fell short of an overall majority.

On Monday Zimbabwe’s central bank slashed another 12 zeroes off the country’s worthless currency, shrinking one trillion Zimbabwe dollars into a single Zimbabwe dollar.

The move by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono comes just six months after he lobbed 10 zeroes off the money in August last year. But world-record inflation quickly eroded the currency’s value again. — Sapa-dpa, Sapa-AFP, Reuters