Zimbabwe cholera death toll near 600: U.N.
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By Nelson Banya
HARARE (Reuters) - The death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic neared 600 on Tuesday and President Robert Mugabe's government accused Western powers of exploiting the outbreak to force the veteran leader's departure.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on its website the number of cholera cases in Zimbabwe stood at 13,960. In the capital Harare, there had been 189 deaths, it said.
The spreading cholera, food shortages and economic collapse in the southern African country have prompted new demands from Western countries for President Robert Mugabe's resignation.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba said the West is using the cholera outbreak to further aggression and to advocate an invasion of Zimbabwe in a bid to oust Mugabe. "The British and the Americans are dead set on bringing Zimbabwe back to the U.N. Security Council, they are also dead set on ensuring that there is an invasion of Zimbabwe but without themselves carrying it out," state-owned The Herald newspaper quoted Charamba as saying.
Britain, France and the U.S. have said it is time for Mugabe to go and the European Union on Monday extended a EU travel ban to 11 more Zimbabwean officials on a list of more than 160 officials.
Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe's hardship, while his critics accuse him of increasingly authoritarian rule.
South African officials visited Zimbabwe on Tuesday to assess the scale of the crisis, responding to an unprecedented appeal for international help from Mugabe's government.
Basic foodstuffs are running out, prices of goods are doubling every 24 hours, and the 100 million Zimbabwean dollar a week limit for bank withdrawals buys only three loaves of bread in the once relatively prosperous country.
The crisis has been exacerbated by political deadlock between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over implementation of a September 15 power-sharing deal brokered by South Africa.
Zimbabwe's health system cannot cope with the cholera epidemic and the water supply network has failed. People have been drinking from contaminated wells and streams.
South Africa, which has seen hundreds of desperate Zimbabweans cross its border seeking treatment for cholera, is due to give details of an aid package to Zimbabwe later this week.
At least eight people have died from cholera in the Limpopo province bordering Zimbabwe.
South Africa's ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma on Monday urged swift action on Monday to end Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis.
"Some swift action is clearly needed to deal with the situation in Zimbabwe. We are concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian and political situation," Zuma said in Namibia. (Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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