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Miliband: Mugabe's misrule is a disease
Ed Harris16.12.08
ROBERT Mugabe was today accused of "misrule and corruption" by Britain's Foreign Secretary as Zimbabwe's cholera crisis worsened.
David Miliband said cholera was making the headlines but Zimbabwe's real disease was "the disease of misrule and corruption" under President Mugabe.
The UN says 978 people have been killed by cholera, a 25 per cent increase on the last figure given just days ago. Talks between the government and opposition are deadlocked.
UN chief Ban Ki-Moon said his organisation could do little to help Zimbabwe because of its leaders' refusal to allow it to mediate.
The cholera epidemic was the most visible manifestation of a wider crisis, Mr Ban told a session of the Security Council.
Mr Miliband described Mr Ban's closed-door briefing as "devastating". The meeting ended without agreement on a motion to censure Mr Mugabe. A diplomat present said this was due to opposition from South Africa.
Mr Mugabe said last week that cholera had been contained, and accused Western powers of trying to use the outbreak as a pretext to invade the country.
Zimbabwe has also accused its neighbour Botswana of being involved in a plot to overthrow Mr Mugabe's government and hosting military training camps for opposition rebels. Botswana, whose president Ian Khama is one of the few African leaders to have publicly criticised Mr Mugabe, denies the claims.
Reader views (1)
Unelected leader? Pathological liar? Arresting opposition politicians. Ill equipped military? Crumbling infrastructure? Weak currency? Gosh what parrallels the UK has with Zimbabwe and Crash Gordon has with that odious Mugabe..
But little 'Milli Tant' is correct misrule is definitely a disease. Ask Crash Gordon he's a carrier!
- Rusty Shackleford, UK
