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December 6, 2008 Saturday
Updated
Dec 6, 2008
'Enough is enough'
'This is now an international rather than a national emergency,' said Mr Brown. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday that world powers must join together to tell Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe that 'enough is enough' amid a cholera epidemic which has killed nearly 600.

Mr Brown said the crisis in Zimbabwe was now 'international', adding he hoped the United Nations Security Council would meet urgently to consider the situation.

His comments come as the international pressure on President Mugabe rises, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying it was 'well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave' and Mr Brown's Foreign Secretary David Miliband calling the Zimbabwean government a 'rogue' regime.

'This is now an international rather than a national emergency,' Mr Brown said in a statement released by his Downing Street office.

'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.

'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.'

Britain on Thursday pledged extra aid to fight the cholera outbreak in its former colony, where the death toll has hit 575, according to the UN.

Mr Brown said the focus now was on getting aid to the people who need it most, in part through the establishment of a command and control structure in Harare, stressing that 'our differences with Mr Mugabe will not prevent us doing so'.

He added he had been 'in close contact with African leaders to press for stronger action to give the Zimbabwean people the government they deserve'.

'I hope that the Security Council will meet urgently to consider Zimbabwe,' he said, also calling on Zimbabwe to allow visits by senior officials. -- AFP

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