Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 19, 2008
Donna Bryson
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said questions about how much longer Zimbabwe can withstand hunger, disease and political stalemate before disintegrating ignore that "there is a complete collapse right now."
If action is not taken soon, chaos could ensue and Zimbabwe's neighbors will be calling for peacekeepers, as some are now calling for in Somalia, Frazer said during an interview in South Africa.
Frazer was in southern Africa to consult with regional leaders about what can be done to help Zimbabwe. A day earlier, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe stressed that he believed a proposed unity government was the solution, and that it must be formed quickly.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980 and seen as increasingly autocratic, and the opposition have been deadlocked over a power-sharing agreement since September.
Frazer said that while the United States was not saying the power-sharing agreement has no chance, its proposal is that Mugabe yield to a caretaker government to organize new elections. The United States is among Mugabe's sharpest critics, accusing him of trampling on democracy and destroying a once prosperous and stable nation.
"We think that the person who has ruined the country ... that he needs to step down," Frazer said. "We're watching Zimbabwe become a failed state. We need to act now, proactively, in Zimbabwe."
The political impasse comes amid a mounting economic and humanitarian crisis that has pushed thousands of Zimbabweans to the point of starvation and left 1,111 dead of cholera since August.
The latest figures, compiled by the World Health Organization and released Thursday, show that the number of cases has risen to 20,581 since the start of the outbreak.
One WHO cholera expert, Dominique Legros, warned that Zimbabwe's fragile health system means the country is ill-prepared at the moment to deal with other health emergencies.
"We can expect other outbreaks of infectious disease such as measles occurring in the near future," he said, adding that vaccination programs and HIV treatment have also come to a virtual standstill.
WHO says cholera is spreading in Zimbabwe because of badly maintained sanitation systems, rampant inflation that has hit doctors and nurses, and a lack of clean drinking water.
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