Zimbabwe: Cholera is genocide by UK
One of Zimbabwe's top officials blamed his country's spreading cholera outbreak on what he calls "a genocidal onslaught" by Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler -- Britain.
Zimbabwean clinics have been overwhelmed by the cholera epidemic, according to aid organizations. "Cholera is a calculated, racist attack on Zimbabwe by the unrepentant former colonial power, which has enlisted support from its American and Western allies so that they can invade the country," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told reporters. Britain ruled the country as a colony until 1965.
Ndlovu's claims triggered quick and pointed reaction from Britain and the United States. In Washington, State Department spokesman Rob McInturff called Ndlovu's accusations "patently ridiculous."
Referring to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, McInturff said Friday that, "Mugabe is clearly unwilling to take any meaningful action (to stop the cholera outbreak)."
On Thursday, Mugabe said "there is no cholera in the country." His spokesman later said that Mugabe was sarcastically ridiculing what he believes are Western designs to invade the country.Britain's Africa minister, Mark Malloch-Brown responded by saying, "I don't know what world he (Mugabe) is living in," according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Malloch-Brown made the comment during a one-day trip to South Africa, where he visited a Johannesburg church housing 1,600 Zimbabweans who have fled their country, the newspaper said. "There is a raging humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe as well as an economic crisis and still there is no representative government able to lead the country out of this disaster," he said, according to The Guardian.
Cholera has ravaged Zimbabwe, causing nearly 800 deaths and infecting more than 16,000 people, the World Health Organization says.
The outbreak could surpass 60 000 cases, according to an estimate by the Zimbabwe Health Cluster, which is a group coordinated by the World Health Organization.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, by the way, is the same guy who said a few weeks ago that Zimbabwe had enough chemicals and money to repair sewer lines and clean the water. I guess his countrymen are still waiting for those chemicals and money.
No comments:
Post a Comment