Johannesburg  - Zimbabwe is short on laughs these days, so short, in fact, that the capital Harare, the epicentre of a cholera outbreak that has felled over 1,000 Zimbabweans, is dubbed Ha-Ha-Rare.

But the sound of mirthless laughter did ring out over the city lately, when Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, by way of explanation for the cholera epidemic, told journalists that Britain had planted the cholera germ in Zimbabwe's soil before quitting the country in 1980.

The outbreak of the water-borne disease that began in August when water and sanitation systems in townships creaked to a halt, was the culmination of a 28-year "gestation" period, he claimed.

Johannesburg  - Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe has a new calling in South Africa ... as a fly swatter.

Harare, Dec. 13 : Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused Britain of waging "biological warfare" against his people through a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 800 people so far.

Health officials in South Africa have said that Zimbabwe''s cholera epidemic is now of a "massive magnitude".

Mugabe has long sought to portray the suffering of his country''s people as the result of a dispute between London and his own government, blaming the former colonial power for a range of ills. But the cholera claim is further and more bizarre than his Zanu-PF party has ever gone before.

Washington  - The United States warned Thursday that the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is worsening and announced millions of dollars in spending to combat the disease.

US officials refuted a declaration by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that the cholera epidemic was over. The US Agency for International Development announced it will provide 6.2 million dollars to fight the cholera outbreak in addition to the 4.6 million dollars already spent.

Johannesburg - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is the "21st Century Hitler," an Anglican bishop in neighbouring South Africa said Thursday.

In a statement calling for churches to pray for Mugabe's forced removal, the Anglican Bishop of Pretoria Joe Seoka said: "Mugabe must be viewed as the 21st Century Hitler, a person seemingly without conscience or remorse, and a murderer."

Seoka blamed Zimbabwe's neighbours for protecting their "comrade in dictatorship."

Harare/Johannesburg - A group of senior United Nations officials has arrived in Zimbabwe to lead efforts to combat a devastating cholera epidemic, answering an appeal by President Robert Mugabe's government last week for help.

At least 575 people have died and over 12,000 people been infected in a cholera outbreak that began in sewage-drenched poor urban townships in August.

Because those figures do not include people who died at home, the real toll is thought to be much higher.

The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper said Tuesday that five World Health Organization (WHO) experts arrived from Geneva on Monday.