The cholera crisis continues in Zimbabwe as the death toll nears 1000, with 18000+ reported to have contracted the illness.

The UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) reports the capital, Harare, with 208 confirmed deaths and 8,454 suspected cases, is the worst hit area.

The South African Red Cross has sent much-needed medical supplies to Zimbabwe, and has issued an appeal for funds to treat a total of 30,000 people. The UN warns that up to 60,000 people could become infected if the outbreak is not contained.

Despite the facts, President Robert Mugabe “assured” the international community on Thursday that everything was under control:

“I am happy to say our doctors are being assisted by others, and the WHO [World Health Organization] have now arrested cholera.”

Censure Blocked

Ocha’s revised death figures were released hours before the UN Security Council met for its first discussions on Zimbabwe since it failed to pass new sanctions on the country’s leaders in July.

The meeting was designed, as UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband put it, to “restart UN engagement on this issue”.

But a motion to censure Mr Mugabe was blocked by opposition from South Africa.

Speaking to reporters after the Security Council’s discussions, Mr Miliband said the council had heard a “devastating report” from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about “the disintegration of state institutions, the collapse of the economy, the disemboweling of the economic institutions, [and] the collapse of health and education services” in Zimbabwe.

“And of course, the symptom of that disintegration is the shocking fact that cholera has returned to Zimbabwe” and was spilling over into neighboring states, Mr Miliband said.

The Security Council also heard a briefing on the stalled power-sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The rivals agreed to form a power-sharing government in September but its implementation has been dogged by disagreements over whose supporters would get key ministries.

The political crisis has aggravated an ongoing economic meltdown that has brought Zimbabwe the world’s highest inflation rate (latest reports have the inflation rate at 516 quintillion per cent – that’s 516 with 18 zeros after it – with prices doubling every 1.3 days) .

Botswana: Denies Coup Rumors

Mugabe has  already accused Western powers, particularly former colonial ruler Britain, of using the cholera outbreak as a pretext to invade the country and overthrow him, but now he has also accused Zimbabwe’s neighbor Botswana of being involved in a plot to takeover his government.

Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said there was “compelling evidence” that Botswana was hosting military training camps for opposition rebels.

Botswana’s foreign ministry said the Zimbabwean claim was “nothing more than distorted or concocted evidence, none of which is supported by facts”.

Botswana’s President Ian Khama is one of the few African leaders to have publicly criticised Mr Mugabe.

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