of those afflicted with the disease have fled to neighboring countries to seek medical help -- which risks spreading the outbreak still further . Brown called on the international community to tell Mugabe `` enough is enough , '' and suggested that the United Nations Security Council meet to discuss the issue . He added that the most pressing issue was to ensure that testing and rehydration equipment and packs reach the right people , as well as for aid agencies to set up a organizational structure in the state capital Harare to confront the disease . `` The people of Zimbabwe voted for a better future . It is our duty to support that aspiration , '' Brown added . Brown 's comments came one day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the outbreak is the latest sign that Mugabe 's rule over the country must end . `` It 's well past time for Robert Mugabe to leave . I think that 's now obvious , '' Rice said during a visit to Denmark . Washington has long called for Mugabe to leave office , with President George W. Bush calling Zimbabwe 's runoff presidential
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has branded the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe `` an international emergency '' and called on the world community to confront President Robert Mugabe , leader of the central African nation . A shortage of clean drinking water has unleashed a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe . `` This is now an international rather than a national emergency , '' Brown said in a statement Saturday . `` International because disease crosses borders . International because the systems of government in Zimbabwe are now broken . There is no state capable or willing of protecting its people . '' Earlier this week the government of Zimbabwe , which already suffers from severe economic problems and political instability , declared a national emergency following the outbreak , which has so far killed more than 600 people . Cholera , a water-borne disease , is on the increase in nine of Zimbabwe 's 10 provinces , the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -LRB- OCHA -RRB- warned . It blamed `` poor water and sanitation supply , a collapsed health system and limited government capacity to respond to the emergency . '' Many