World Nov. 28, 2008 - 02:37AM JST ( 1 )

HARARE —

Zimbabwe appealed for aid on Thursday to fight an epidemic of cholera, warning that the outbreak could worsen with the onset of the rainy season as the official death reached nearly 400.

Only a day after the government insisted it had the outbreak under control, deputy health minister Edwin Muguti said it would welcome outside help but again blamed veteran President Robert Mugabe’s Western critics for the crisis.

Speaking on state television, Muguti said 386 people had died of the disease while 9,363 cases had been reported. The government had previously said 281 people had been killed although the U.N. put the toll at 366 earlier this week.

“With the coming of the rainy season, the situation could get worse,” said Muguti. “Our problems are quite simple. We need to be assisted.”

Zimbabwe’s rainy season began earlier this month and should continue until February.

The minister again blamed a limited package of sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union, which include a travel ban on Mugabe’s inner circle and a freezing of their assets, for the mounting death toll.

“Maybe the ones who created this situation have decided to kill us softly,” he said.

The explosion of cholera is the latest sign of the collapse of the country which was regarded as a post-colonial success story in the first two decades after independence from Britain in 1980.

The nation’s dilapidated infrastructure has left sewage flowing openly in the streets while drinking water goes untreated.

The disease has spread to neighboring South Africa, where six people, including two nationals, have died of cholera after returning from Zimbabwe over the last week.

South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan slapped down Muguti’s comments on Wednesday that “the situation is under under control”, instead calling it a humanitarian crisis and promised not to turn away anyone who crossed the border for treatment.

According to a report Thursday in Zimbabwe’s state media, the Chinese government has pledged to donate vaccines worth 500,000 dollars to help Zimbabwe contain the cholera epidemic.

“We are sympathizing with the Zimbabwean people and we want to help as best as we can to stop the spread of the cholera disease that has killed many people in this country,” said He Meng, deputy head of China’s mission to Zimbabwe, according to The Herald newspaper.

The cholera epidemic has added to pressure on Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to implement an agreement in September to share power after disputed elections earlier in the year.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said that Zimbabwe is now facing the worst crisis in its history.

However Tsvangirai has grown frustrated at regional mediation efforts and has called for chief mediator Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, to be axed after the latest session of talks broke up on Wednesday without any progress.

Meanwhile Mugabe, the 84-year-old who has ruled uninterrupted since independence, has flown out to Qatar to participate in a weekend UN conference on international development, according to The Herald.

Wire reports