Brown says that Zimbabwe is now an international emergency

The international community is now stepping up the rhetoric on the Zimbabwe situation, saying it's now time for Robert Mugabe to leave. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a statement on the countries woes during the weekend.

We found details on the statement from the online paper Zim Online.

"This is now an international rather than a national emergency," British Premier Gordon Brown said in a statement, adding; "International because disease crosses borders. International because the systems of government in Zimbabwe are now broken. There is no state capable or willing of protecting its people.”

An intestinal infection that spreads through contaminated food or water, cholera has so far killed almost 600 people in crisis-torn Zimbabwe since August. Cholera causes vomiting and acute diarrhoea, and can rapidly lead to death from dehydration.

The disease spreads fastest in situations with poor sanitation such as those found in Zimbabwe’s cities where sewers have broken down while garbage piles up in the streets and a shortage of clean water means residents have to rely on unprotected shallow wells for water.

The disease has since spilt into Zimbabwe’s neighbours – South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana – and Brown said the situation now required an international response.

"International because – not least in the week of the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights – we must stand together to defend human rights and democracy, to say firmly to Mugabe that enough is enough."

Brown called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider Zimbabwe’s deteriorating situation.

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