President Robert Mugabe declared Thursday that there was "no cholera" in Zimbabwe and the country's health crisis was over, even as the United Nations raised the death toll from the epidemic to 783. Cholera has spread rapidly in the southern African nation because of the country's crumbling health care system and the lack of clean water. The U.N. said 16,403 cases have been reported. Last week, Zimbabwe declared a health emergency because of cholera and the collapse of its health services. South African authorities have declared the cholera-hit border region with Zimbabwe a disaster area as the disease spreads to other countries. In Washington, the U.S. ambassador to Harare, James McGee, told reporters at the State Department that the cholera problem is getting worse and that Mugabe's assertion that the health crisis was over showed "how out of touch he is with the reality" in Zimbabwe. "The situation is truly grim," McGee said, "One man and his cronies -- Robert Mugabe -- are holding this country hostage." -- associated press (19 images)
Tatenda Chinyau carries water for domestic use he fetched from an unprotected well which has been a major source of cholera in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Dec. 7. The cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has claimed 575 lives so far, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Harare is the worst-hit district with 179 deaths and 6,448 cases as of Dec. 4. The water-borne disease has spread to surrounding countries with deaths recorded in Botswana and South Africa where the influx of Zimbabweans across the border seeking help has grown. AFP / Getty Images / Desmond Kwande
Women carry water in buckets, as others carry empty buckets towards the underground water source, after water was cut in Harare on Monday, Dec. 1. Water in the capital Harare was cut due to shortage of purification chemicals as Zimbabwe battles with a cholera outbreak which is thought to have left at least 425 people dead. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
People collect water from a well in Harare, Zimbabwe Thursday, Dec. 4. Zimbabwe has declared a national emergency over a cholera epidemic and the collapse of its health care system, and is seeking more help to pay for food and drugs, the state-run newspaper said Thursday. AP
A Zimbabwean child walks bare foot through a polluted stream in Harare Zimbabwe Friday, Dec. 5. South Africa is sending more military doctors to its northern border to treat Zimbabwean cholera victims, underlining fears of a regional disease outbreak linked to Zimbabwe's collapse. Cholera is easily prevented and cured, but Zimbabwe's medical and water-treatment systems have all but disappeared. The disaster has led to renewed calls, on Friday from the United States among others, on longtime, increasingly autocratic Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe to step down. AP
A young boy prepares to drink clean water from a borehole in Harare, Thursday, Dec. 11. President Robert Mugabe declared that Zimbabwe's cholera crisis was over Thursday, even as the United Nations raised the death toll from the epidemic to 783. Cholera has spread rapidly in the southern African nation because of the country's crumbling health care system and the lack of clean water. The U.N. said 16,403 cases have been reported. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Zimbabweans wait for their turn to fetch water from a borehole in Harare, Wednesday, Dec. 10. According to the United Nations the death toll from an outbreak of Cholera in Zimbabwe has soared to 750 people as rights groups denounced President Robert Mugabe over a wave of abductions of activists in the country. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Zimbabweans wait to get water from a water point in Glen View, Harare, Zimbabwe Monday, Dec. 8. European Union nations moved to tighten sanctions against Zimbabwe's government on Monday and stood united in calling for the country's authoritarian leader Robert Mugabe to "step down." The move was to protest the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe, where a cholera outbreak is claiming thousands of live due to poor state of health care there. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
A woman with her baby wait to get water from a water point in Glen View, Harare, Zimbabwe Monday, Dec. 8. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Children collect stagnant water for use at home in Glen View, Harare, Sunday, Dec. 7. South Africa is sending more military doctors to its northern border to treat Zimbabwean cholera victims, underlining fears of a regional disease outbreak linked to Zimbabwe's collapse. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
A young boy fetches water from a river in Harare, Wednesday, Dec. 3. The United Nations is reporting that the death toll from the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has risen to 565, with 12,546 people infected. The government had been reporting 473 cholera deaths since August, and a total of 11,700 people infected as of Monday. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Women and children collect clean water from a UNICEF truck in Harare, Zimbabwe Wednesday, Dec. 3. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Women and children collect clean water from a UNICEF truck in Harare, Zimbabwe Wednesday, Dec. 3. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Women and children wait to get water from an underground source, following a water cut in Harare, Monday, Dec., 1. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Zimbabweans wait to get water from a Unicef water point in Harare, Tuesday, Dec. 9. President Robert Mugabe's regime has renewed assaults on dissidents, a human rights group said Tuesday, even as he faced more international pressure to step down amid a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 600 people. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, said it was planning its response on the assumption that as many as 60,000 people could be infected if the situation worsens. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
President Robert Mugabe is seen at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, Thursday, Dec. 11. Mugabe who spoke at the burial of Eliot Manyika, a government minister who died in a car accident, warned against the invasion of Zimbabwe by western powers whom he described as being hypocritical for wanting to send troops to Zimbabwe because of an outbreak of cholera. AP / Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi
Patients suffering from cholera receive treatment at a clinic in Harare, Wednesday, Dec. 10. The United Nations said the death toll from water bourne disease has risen to 746 and that the total number of suspected cases reported in the southern African country has risen to 15,572 since the start of the outbreak in August. It last reported 589 people had died and 12,700 were sick. AP
A woman suspected to be suffering from cholera, is transported in a wheelbarrow to a clinic for treatment, in Harare, Thursday, Dec. 11. AP
Two Zimbabwean men rest in a cholera rehydration tent at the Musina hospital, on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border, on Dec. 11. UN agencies have warned that the disease could afflict up to 60,000 people in the coming weeks. AFP / Getty Images / Justine Gerardy
A Zimbabwean family bury their relative Betty Bvute who died of cholera in Seke Chitungwiza, 25km from Harare, Zimbabwe, on Dec. 08. AFP / Getty Images / Desmond Kwande
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