Johannesburg  - The leaders of South Africa and Botswana began deliberating Sunday over the next possible moves regarding Zimbabwe's worsening humanitarian situation, a day after Harare stopped a visit of senior statesmen.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe was meeting his Botswana counterpart, Ian Khama, in Pretoria, but it was uncertain whether they would try to prepare a new diplomatic initiative. Khama is one of the few African heads of state to publicly criticize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Johannesburg - Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former US president Jimmy Carter and Mozambican activist Graca Machel had to call off a trip to Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe refused them entry, they announced in Johannesburg Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, the three, who were due to travel to Zimbabwe Saturday on behalf of The Elders grouping of leading statesmen and women, said they were disappointed that they had been denied an opportunity to shine a light on the humanitarian crisis in the country.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and ex-president Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating in Zimbabwe's power-sharing talks, had intervened on their behalf with Mugabe, but to no avail, they said.

Johannesburg - Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, former US president Jimmy Carter and Mozambican activist Graca Machel have had to call off a trip to Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe refused them entry, they announced in Johannesburg Saturday.

Addressing a press conference, the three, who were due to travel to Zimbabwe Saturday on behalf of The Elders grouping of leading statesmen and women, said they were disappointed that they had been denied an opportunity to shine a light on the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Harare - Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak has rapidly spread to nearly all of the country's 10 provinces, a government minister said Friday.

Health minister David Parirenyatwa was quoted in the state-run daily Herald as saying that nine provinces had reported the presence of the deadly and highly infectious diarrheal disease. The crowded township of Budiriro in Harare, the capital, was established as the epicentre of the epidemic.

Berlin/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai said he would meet Friday in South Africa with former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and ex-US president Jimmy Carter on the eve of their high-profile visit to Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai confirmed the meeting during an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Berlin Thursday.