U.S. says Mugabe's time is up

HARARE (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday that President Robert Mugabe's departure from office was long overdue and a food crisis and cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe meant it was now vital for the international community to act.

Zimbabwe has declared an emergency and appealed for international help to battle a cholera outbreak that has killed 575 people with 12,700 reported cases of the disease, according to the United Nations.

"It's well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Copenhagen.

In a further sign of growing international pressure, European Union diplomats said the bloc planned more sanctions against Zimbabwe next week unless progress was made in ending the political deadlock.

The EU has a list of 11 officials to be added to an existing list of more than 100 officials, including Mugabe, who cannot travel to the EU, two diplomats said.

Nobel laureate and South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on Thursday that Mugabe must step down or be removed by force and that the Zimbabwean leader faced indictment for war crimes in the Hague unless he quit.

Rice said the stalled power-sharing talks, a "sham election" earlier this year, economic meltdown and the humanitarian toll from the cholera epidemic required swift action.

"If this is not evidence to the international community that it's time to stand up for what is right I don't know what will be," Rice told a news conference.

"Frankly the nations of the region have to lead it."

Economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, isolated by Western countries under Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian rule, has left the health system ill-prepared to cope with the cholera epidemic that it once would have prevented or treated easily.

The country has the highest official modern-day inflation of 231 million percent but inflation is seen much higher with prices doubling every 24 hours. Basic foods are often unobtainable and the currency worthless.

The cholera cases have been fuelled by the collapse of the water system, which has forced residents to drink from contaminated wells and streams. The disease has spread to neighbouring South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana.

FOOD CRISIS

South Africa said on Friday it would send a team of senior government officials to Zimbabwe next week to assess the food crisis and investigate what aid is needed.

"The purpose of the visit will be to assess the situation on the ground, determine the level of assistance required and to consult with the representatives of the various stakeholders in Zimbabwe on how a distribution and monitoring mechanism could be set up," a government spokesman said.

Thousands of Zimbabweans are believed to cross the border, often illegally, into South Africa each day. A cholera centre has been set up in the South African border town of Musina.

Neighbouring Mozambique said on Friday it had put all areas near the border with Zimbabwe on maximum alert over the threat of cholera entering.

"The massive and uncontrolled entry of Zimbabweans into Mozambique could be an open door for the further spread of the disease which is also affecting us," a health ministry spokesman said.

Zambia said on Friday the cholera outbreak had spilt over its border. One Zimbabwean died from the disease in a Zambian town on the border while two others were receiving treatment.

Zimbabwe does not have the funds to pay doctors and nurses or buy medicine and aid agency Oxfam said at least 300,000 people weakened by lack of food are in danger from the epidemic.

"Millions of people were already facing starvation. With unemployment over 80 percent, and food unavailable across the country, they now have to contend with cholera and other diseases as the water and sanitation systems break down," Peter Mutoredzanwa, Country Director for Oxfam in Zimbabwe, said.

Mutoredzanwa said in a statement almost half of Zimbabwe's 13 million population have been weakened by serious food shortages and indications were that more than 5 million people will urgently need food aid by January.

South Africa will announce an aid package for Zimbabwe next week, Maseko said, adding Zimbabwe's political parties have agreed that all aid should be distributed in a non-partisan way.

Hopes of rescuing Zimbabwe from the humanitarian crisis are complicated by the deadlock between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over how to implement a power-sharing pact.

Western nations, which accused Mugabe of running the once prosperous nation into the ground, have promised aid. European Union ministers have agreed to provide an initial 200,000 euros to the Red Cross and other aid agencies.

In Geneva, the United Nations said Zimbabwe needed a huge influx of emergency aid to repair its collapsing health and sanitation systems and fight the epidemic.

"It is major public health crisis," WHO's global cholera coordinator Claire-Lise Chaignat told Reuters.

The capital Harare remains the worst-hit area, recording 179 deaths among 6,448 known cases, according to the U.N.

U.N. humanitarian aid now $550 million (375.6 million pounds) "will certainly be increased, officials said.

The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), which is working to restore water and sanitation systems, said it spent $5 million in Zimbabwe last week. It is distributing 360,000 litres of clean water every day by truck.

(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming in Copenhagen, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Charles Mangwiro in Maputo, Shapi Shacinda in Lusaka, Ingrid Melander in Brussels, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Angus MacSwan)