Geneva - The number of dead from cholera in Zimbabwe continued to rise, the United Nations said Tuesday, and so far 313 deaths have been reported in the latest outbreak of the disease.

"We are very concerned by the deteriorating health situation in Zimbabwe," the World Health Organization (WHO) said in Geneva.

The number of reported cases in the country in the past three months has increased to 7,283, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, up over 1,000 from a week before.

The most affected areas were parts of the capital Harare.

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's political rivals were due to hold talks in South Africa on Tuesday to try to resolve their months-long standoff over the formation of a unity government, but it was unclear whether the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would participate.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was meeting Tuesday morning with senior members of his party in Johannesburg to discuss their stance on the planned meeting with representatives of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

Harare  - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change on Monday rejected suggestions by Nelson Mandela's Elders that it should form a unity government with President Robert Mugabe - and work through the kinks later.

"We understand the direness and precariousness of the situation but a longer gestation period (for the unity government) makes more sense than a short period that will result in abortion," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Chamisa was reacting to a suggestion by former US president Jimmy Carter that, once a constitutional amendment that sets out the powers of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister is agreed upon, the party should join Mugabe in a power-sharing government and push for further change in parliament.

Johannesburg  - The Elders on Monday urged Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to go into government with President Robert Mugabe in the interests of the country, despite being offered a junior partnership.

Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, former US president Jimmy Carter and Mozambican social activist Graca Machel were briefing journalists in Johannesburg about their three-day fact-finding mission on Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis.

Johannesburg - The Elders, a group of leading activists and former world leaders, on Monday urged Zimbabwe's opposition to go into government with President Robert Mugabe in the interest of the Zimbabwean people.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has been holding out on joining a unity government on Mugabe's terms, demanding that power should be divided equally between the parties.

Johannesburg - South Africa on Monday heaped pressure on Zimbabwe's rival political leaders to form a unity government, with President Kgalema Motlanthe and the man tipped to soon replace him, Jacob Zuma, describing the situation in Zimbabwe as "very bad" and "very desperate."

Motlanthe, chairman of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community reiterated: "The parties must implement with immediate effect their own agreement which they signed on September 15."