UN dispatches humanitarian mission to Zimbabwe as cholera deaths near 3,400

A United Nations humanitarian mission will be going later this month to Zimbabwe, where the worst ever cholera outbreak in the country’s history has now claimed almost 3,400 lives, the world body announced today.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that as of 5 February, nearly 68,000 cases of cholera have been reported since the outbreak began last August, and of those, 3,371 people have died.

The mission, led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will visit the southern African nation from 21 to 25 February and will also include the participation of WHO, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had announced on Monday that he would send such a mission to Zimbabwe, following his meeting with President Robert Mugabe on the margins of the recent African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

Mr. Ban had urged Mr. Mugabe to take immediate steps to address the humanitarian and economic crises plaguing the country, uphold the human rights and democratic freedoms of all Zimbabweans, and promote national reconciliation, as he welcomed the power-sharing deal reached by the Government and the opposition.