Johannesburg  - The US ambassador to Zimbabwe on Sunday accused President Robert Mugabe's regime of splurging on expensive presents for party loyalists, and leaving the job of caring for desperate Zimbabweans to Mugabe's so-called "enemies" in the West.

In a letter published in South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, James McGee accused the regime of forking out on cars for government ministers and plasma televisions for judges while Zimbabweans were being snuffed out in large numbers by cholera, an easily preventable and treatable disease.

Mugabe's regime accuses Western sanctions of causing the country's nosedive, although the sanctions are aimed only at his ruling clique.

"The widespread hunger in Zimbabwe, the cholera epidemic and the collapse of the education and healthcare systems are not the result of any targeted sanctions," McGee said.

"These disastrous failures result from decisions by a few Zimbabwean leaders to put personal interests ahead of the public interest.

"Instead of spending scarce resources on water purification chemicals that might stop the cholera epidemic, they are manipulating currency to make a personal profit. Instead of ensuring that hospitals and clinics remain open, staffed and supplied, they enjoy lives of luxury in gated compounds."

Accusing Mugabe's regime of "criminal negligence," McGee demanded the regime to "take responsibility for the problems it has created."

The US provides 70 per cent of all international food aid distributed in Zimbabwe, spent nearly 30 million dollars last year on HIV/AIDS programmes and had coughed up an extra 600,000 dollars to tackle the cholera outbreak, according to McGee. (dpa)