Zimbabwe cholera outbreak kills over 3,000

By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) - Cholera has killed over 3,000 people and infected more than 57,000 Zimbabweans, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, making it the deadliest outbreak in Africa in 15 years.

The spread of the disease has raised the urgency of forming a new government after rival parties failed to implement a September power-sharing deal seen as a chance to ease a humanitarian crisis.

Regional leaders decided at a summit on Tuesday that a unity government should be formed next month.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he agrees to form a government with President Robert Mugabe, even though his party voiced disappointment with a deal reached at the summit, a South African newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The contradiction suggested differences had emerged within Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over implementation of the September pact. This added to uncertainty over whether a new Zimbabwean leadership would be united enough to tackle an acute economic crisis in which prices are doubling every day.

The MDC has said the outcome of the summit fell "far short of our expectations", raising doubts over prospects for ending the political deadlock.

Mugabe, who has made it clear he would set up a government without the opposition if need be, said talks were concluded and a new cabinet could now be formed.

South Africa's Star newspaper quoted Tsvangirai as saying that resolving outstanding issues over a government was a "work in progress".