200 more die from cholera outbreak

HARARE, Zimbabwe – The death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak has risen sharply, the United Nations said Wednesday, reporting 775 deaths and 16,141 cases of the waterborne disease in the southern African nation.

Cholera has spread rapidly in Zimbabwe because of the country’s crumbling health care system and the lack of clean water. Last week, Zimbabwe declared a health emergency because of cholera and the collapse of its health services.

The latest figures from the World Health Organization show a jump of nearly 200 deaths from Tuesday, when the U.N. humanitarian office reported that 589 people had died out of 13,960 cases.

Zimbabwe’s government said the disease is under control, but aid agencies warn that coming rains could spread cholera further in a population already weakened by disease and hunger.

With hundreds of people fleeing the country to seek treatment, cholera has already spread to Zimbabwe’s neighbors. Nine deaths were reported Tuesday in South Africa.

President Robert Mugabe is coming under increasing pressure as concern about the country’s deepening humanitarian and political crisis mounts. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have all called recently for the 84-year-old leader to step down.

Also Wednesday, a group of lawyers marched peacefully through downtown Harare calling for the release of human rights activist Jestina Mukoko.

Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was allegedly taken from her home a week ago when activists held nationwide protests against the country’s deepening economic and health crises.

Zimbabwean security officials regularly detain, harass and beat opponents of Mugabe’s increasingly autocratic rule, although the government denies such allegations.

A judge ordered police Tuesday to investigate Mukoko’s disappearance.