Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe came under fresh international pressure over his country’s collapse on Saturday as his government announced plans to introduce a Z$200-million bill.
The country’s political deadlock, soaring inflation and a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 600 prompted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to urge world powers to pile pressure on Mugabe, saying ”enough is enough”.
Brown said the crisis in Zimbabwe was now ”international” and that he hoped the United Nations Security Council would meet urgently to consider the situation.
Zimbabwe’s situation has continued to deteriorate in nine months of political limbo since elections in March, and the country declared a cholera outbreak a national emergency this week as rampant inflation hampers the daily lives of citizens.
The government announced in its gazette on Saturday that it would put a Z$200-million note into circulation, just days after a Z$100-million note was released — which is worth only about US$14.
Brown’s comments came amid mounting pressure from around the world, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying it was ”well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave” and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband calling the Zimbabwean government a ”rogue” regime.
”This is now an international rather than a national emergency,” Brown said in a statement released by his Downing Street office.
”International because disease crosses borders. International because the systems of government in Zimbabwe are now broken. There is no state capable or willing of protecting its people.
”International because — not least in the week of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — we must stand together to defend human rights and democracy, to say firmly to Mugabe that enough is enough.”
Deadlock
In its latest bulletin, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the outbreak of cholera had now claimed 575 lives. The capital, Harare, is the worst-hit district with 179 deaths and 6 448 cases as of December 4.
The disease has spread to surrounding countries with deaths recorded in Botswana and South Africa, where the influx of Zimbabweans across the border seeking help has grown.
South Africa, which is to send a team into Zimbabwe on Monday to probe how it can assist with food and humanitarian aid, said it hoped the cholera outbreak would spur political leaders to urgently resolve their issues.
Brown said he had been ”in close contact with African leaders to press for stronger action to give the Zimbabwean people the government they deserve”.
Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai, and a smaller political party are deadlocked in discussions over a stalled political agreement in which they agreed to share power three months ago.
The deal has yet to be implemented as parties fail to agree on who should control key ministries.
As his country flounders, Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, on Friday brandished the threat of fresh elections in the next year or two if the power-sharing deal did not work.
”We agreed to give them [the Movement for Democratic Change] 13 ministries while we share the Ministry of Home affairs, but if the arrangement fails to work in the next one-and-a-half to two years, then we would go for elections,” Mugabe was quoted as saying by government newspaper, the Herald.
While the leaders haggle, the situation on the ground has steadily deteriorated, with the army staging its first-ever protest against the government, looting and beating up citizens in the street last week.
The Herald reported on Saturday that those involved would face a court martial. — AFP
