'Situation Zimbabwe worse than imagined'

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Monday the crisis in Zimbabwe appears "much worse than anything we ever imagined" after the government there blocked his weekend humanitarian visit. Carter and the other The Elders were to be accompanied by Dutch Princess Mabel.

Carter, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and child advocate Graça Machel called for southern African leaders to halt the "deep suffering in Zimbabwe", where the U.N. says more than 5 million people face imminent starvation.

The president of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, meanwhile, warned Zimbabwe "may implode and collapse", as he announced a new round of talks to try to resolve the political impasse. His comments, some of the strongest yet by South Africa, come as a cholera epidemic has killed hundreds of Zimbabweans and spilled across the border into South Africa.

* Princess Mabel

Officials say Zimbabwe's political and economic collapse caused the outbreak. South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and the leader of the country's ruling party, Jacob Zuma, expressed grave concern at Zimbabwe's deepening humanitarian crisis after meeting with Carter, Annan and Machel, who were accompanied by Dutch Princess Mabel, CEO of The Elders.

Zimbabwe has been in political deadlock since opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the most votes in the March presidential election but not enough to avoid a runoff.

President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980, claimed victory in the June runoff after Tsvangirai dropped out over violence aimed at his supporters. The two agreed in September to share power but the talks have stalled over the allocation of Cabinet posts.

The Elders had planned to visit Zimbabwe over the weekend on a humanitarian mission but Mugabe's government refused them visas, saying the trip had not been coordinated with the government beforehand. Instead, they met with charity, donor and civil leaders from Zimbabwe in neighbouring South Africa.

Both the Elders and the South African leaders on Monday agreed that it is difficult to separate Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis from the political issues. "These are two sides of the same coin and we need to deal with them simultaneously with the urgency they deserve", Motlanthe said. © GPD AP