The cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe which has left hundreds dead was caused by the UK, an ally of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu described the outbreak as a "genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British".
On Thursday, Mr Mugabe said the spread of cholera had been halted.
But aid workers warned that the situation was worsening and the outbreak could last for months.
In his comments to media in Harare, Mr Ndlovu likened the appearance of cholera in Zimbabwe to a "serious biological chemical weapon" used by the British.
The Zimbabwean minister for information blames Britain for the cholera outbreak
He described it as "a calculated, racist, terrorist attack on Zimbabwe".
Mr Mugabe has already accused Western powers of plotting to use cholera as an excuse to invade and overthrow him.
Earlier on Friday a senior South African Anglican bishop said that Mr Mugabe should be seen as a "21st Century Hitler".
Bishop of Pretoria Joe Seoka called on churches to pray for his removal, the South African Press Association reports.
His comments came as the US ambassador to Zimbabwe warned that the country was turning into a "failed state".
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the outbreak has not been contained and the death toll has increased to some 792 people, the AFP news agency reports.
The WHO has warned that the total number of cases could reach 60,000 unless the epidemic was stopped.
US ambassador James McGee blamed the outbreak on Zimbabwe's political crisis and the failed economic policies of its government.
He told reporters in Washington that hospitals in Harare remained closed, there was no rubbish collection and people were drinking from sewers.
President Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been deadlocked in power-sharing negotiations for several months.
"The situation is truly grim. One man and his cronies - Robert Mugabe - are holding this country hostage," Mr McGee said, AP news agency reports.
Bishop Seoka said that Mr Mugabe was a "person seemingly without conscience or remorse, and a murderer".
"I believe it is now an opportune moment for all the church leaders to follow the retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, to call on God to cause the removal Mugabe from the office of the President of Zimbabwe," he said, calling for the prayers to be held next Tuesday.
"The church in South Africa has done this before with the apartheid regime and there is no doubt that God will hear our prayers even today."
Several African and Western leaders have recently said it was time for Mr Mugabe to step down.
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga said African countries should force him from power.
But the African Union has rejected such calls, saying a solution to Zimbabwe's problems must come from the power-sharing talks.
Bishop Seoka asked South Africans to show patience to Zimbabweans who have fled their homeland.
An estimated three million Zimbabweans are living in South Africa, and thousands cross over the border illegally every day.
More recently, hundreds have sought medical treatment because Zimbabwe's health service and water supply infrastructure have virtually collapsed.
Yes, because we're so desperate to reclaim possession of a destitute, disease ridden African hellhole with no redeeming economic factors right at the start of what promises to be a punishing recession that we're willing to use biological weapons to do so. Clearly, this has nothing to do with severe malnutrition, abysmal sanitation and poor hygiene, that's just imperialist crazy talk.
Turn into a failed state?
I think we passed that line long ago. Now it is just a matter of hanging on till there is nothing left to steal for the Mugabists.
Hardly surprising for them to blame this on the UK, everything wrong with Zimbabwe is the UK's fault one way or the other.
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I confess to an evil relief that, for once, the US is not blamed for such a disastrous pile of shit, but it's still very, very wrong.
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Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
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Broomstick wrote:I confess to an evil relief that, for once, the US is not blamed for such a disastrous pile of shit, but it's still very, very wrong.
I think the only reason the US wasn't blamed is that everybody "knows" we are too busy trying to kill every Arab in the world that we don't have time to kill off Africa.
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"I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. "
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This isn’t Mugabe being more nuts then unusual, the fact that he even conceding the Cholera ever existed suggests he’s leaning towards being saner. Of course the whole problem is since the world now insists on putting dictators on trial, even after they voluntarily leave power, dictators are left with no rational course of action but to hold onto power at ANY cost. They can no longer just go and retire to Paris with a pile of stolen money when things turn bad. Meanwhile the world will not actually go and overthrow said dictators even when it would be a trivial task, so we get left with awful messes.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Vendetta wrote:This is Mugabe. If it were discovered tomorrow that an asteroid was going to hit the earth, he would blame Britain.
In what way?
Blame Britain for putting the asteroid there in the first place, or not doing anything to divert it?
Knowing him, probably both.
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The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
Sea Skimmer wrote:This isn’t Mugabe being more nuts then unusual, the fact that he even conceding the Cholera ever existed suggests he’s leaning towards being saner.
Mugabe: 'Now that there is no cholera, there is no cause for war'
President Robert Mugabe has said Zimbabwe has contained cholera - as the UN and a UK charity warned the deadly outbreak was getting worse.
Save the Children said: "If anything is certain in the chaos of Zimbabwe today it is that the cholera outbreak is not under control."
Mr Mugabe also said Western powers were plotting to use cholera as an excuse to invade and overthrow him.
"Now that there is no cholera there is no cause for war," he said.
Mr Mugabe spoke as a district in neighbouring South Africa was declared a disaster area because of the spreading disease, which has killed hundreds in Zimbabwe.
In a nationally televised speech, he said: "I am happy to say our doctors are being assisted by others and the WHO [World Health Organization] have now arrested cholera."
He went on to denounce former colonial power Britain, as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President George W Bush, who both called earlier this week for the 84-year-old to resign.
"Because of cholera, Mr Brown, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Bush want military intervention," Mr Mugabe said. He added: "Let's tell them that the cholera cause doesn't exist any more."
He was speaking in the capital, Harare, at a state funeral for senior ruling party official Elliot Manyika, who died in a car crash over the weekend.
Shortly after Mr Mugabe spoke, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the toll from the disease had risen slightly overnight to 783 and that 16,403 were believed to have been infected.
But Save the Children in Harare said these figures were an underestimate and the epidemic was almost certainly worsening.
The agency's Rachel Pounds said on Thursday: "Reliable figures are hard to come by, but there is much evidence out there that this crisis is growing, not diminishing."
She added: "With even the most basic healthcare on hand, you would expect to see a death rate of only one or two per cent. In some areas of Zimbabwe a third of those who have contracted the infection are dying."
New footage from Harare shows open sewers and residents drawing water from wells
The WHO has warned that the total number of cases could reach 60,000 unless the epidemic was stopped.
Hundreds of Zimbabweans have crossed into South Africa to seek medical treatment because Zimbabwe's health service and water supply infrastructure have virtually collapsed.
At least eight people have died in Limpopo Province, prompting the authorities to declared the Vhembe district which includes the border town of Musina a disaster area.
President Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been deadlocked in power-sharing negotiations for several months.
Mr Mugabe also said in Thursday's speech: "Shall we also say that [because] there is mad cow disease, there must be war, Britain must be invaded. Mr Brown, your head must go for some medical correction."
"We are not a threat to international peace, not a threat to our region," he added.
International pressure
There has been growing international pressure recently for Mr Mugabe to step down.
The UK has led calls for Mr Mugabe to go. African countries like Botswana and Kenya have also said he should step down, but South Africa has refused to call on Mr Mugabe to quit.
And the 53-member African Union said on Tuesday the only solution to Zimbabwe's crisis was the power-sharing talks.
On Monday, European Union nations ramped up the diplomatic pressure on Zimbabwe's government, broadening sanctions on President Mugabe and his inner circle.
Mr Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal in September but talks on forming a unity government have stalled as both sides bicker over how to divide control of key ministries.
South Africa, led by former President Thabo Mbeki, has been mediating the negotiations but the MDC has accused him of not putting enough pressure on Mr Mugabe to share power.
The MDC seized a majority in parliament in March elections, when the opposition leader defeated Mr Mugabe in a first round presidential vote.
Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of a June run-off, accusing Mr Mugabe's party of orchestrating a wave of political violence.
DPDarkPrimus is my boyfriend!
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
I'm afraid you can't even read your own article which explicitly supports what I said. He admits it did exist, but is now gone, as opposed to denying it was ever present which is what he does with most problems.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
So he very temporarily admitted that there was a problem before going right back into denial mode even as the problem gets worse. I'd hardly call that sanity. Maybe a momentary break in his senility before it kicked back in again.
DPDarkPrimus is my boyfriend!
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
Typical tin pot dictator who sits on his horseshit throne and goes "Har har I can say whatever I want." because the truth is he's not important enough for anyone to care.
If I had something interesting, profound or incredibly stupid to say, it would go here.
