A leaked embassy cable posted online by Wikileaks shows that the Zimbabwean government planned to forcibly displace 25,000 villagers in a diamond-rich section of the country early last year.

The January 23, 2009 cable shows that a local chief informed the embassy at Harare, the capital city, that the military was planning to force the residents from their homes.

“The military operation is intended to establish control over the diamond fields as well as to provide village-based housing to troops. The plan was temporarily delayed due to the discovery of gold ore in the region where the villagers were to be relocated,” the cable read. The gold was being mined by a Russian company.

The exact region of Zimbabwe where the villagers lived was redacted from the cable.

The source said that the area was designated a “‘government reserve area’ and consequently, it was authorized to displace all the local residents.’”

The chief was trying to establish a fund to raise money for the villagers to mount a legal defense against the government.

The incomplete cable ends with officials saying that the Zimbabwean government planned to use the diamonds to shore up their economy.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe announced today that his country’s government has stopped the outbreak of cholera. ‚ Yea right.

“There is no cholera,” said Mugabe in a nationwide television broadcast.

In actuality, the epidemic has risen to new heights. ‚ The outbreak has spread across the border into South Africa, where sick refugees have forced South African officials to declare its border a disaster area.

Mugabe did have a reason for saying what he did, he’s not totally unbalanced. ‚ Just a little deranged.

He claims that the U.S., France and the UK have been using the cholera outbreak as an excuse for intervening in the country with military power.

Now, since the outbreak is “over” Mugabe says, “there is no cause for war any more …the cholera cause doesn’t exist any more.”

Obviously he’s wrong. The World Health Organization recently reported nearly 800 cholera related deaths in Zimbabwe. ‚ With the current food and economic crisis there, the epidemic could keep getting worse, especially with someone like Mugabe at the helm.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, U.S. President George Bush and the UN ambassador to Zimbabwe, have all‚ called for Mugabe to step down as leader in Zimbabwe. ‚ 

His denial of the problem is only making it worse, and it’s only a matter of time until that death toll reaches 1000.

Peter Muturedzanwa, an aid worker in Zimbabwe has a grim outlook. ‚ 

“The rains are not promising to come, cholera is increasing, there is no food in shops. The situation is pathetic,” he said.

Your people are suffering, Mugabe. ‚ Get it together.

As cholera and crisis continue to ravage Zimbabwe, the World Health Organization has pledged to aid the ailing nation after meeting with Zimbabwean officials Monday, Voice of America reports.

The WHO is still deciding on how to best provide Zimbabwe with‚ additional‚ aid in their attempts to fight the increasingly lethal cholera epidemic sweeping the nation. ‚ 

So far, 589 lives have been lost due to the disease. ‚ Almost 14,000 cases were reported just last week.

The epidemic has reached unthinkable heights. ‚ In a recent interview conducted by the African Free Press, Roselyn Moyo, a Zimbabwean resident, revealed that she no longer allows her children to play outside, for fear they will catch cholera.

“I am afraid…uncollected refuse is lying all over our neighbourhood with flies flying all over. I can’t risk my children playing outside,” Moyo told AFP.

The epidemic could not have come at a worse time. ‚ The country is facing some ridiculous inflation rates, the cost of various items have been raised by millions of per cent. ‚ The country recently issued a new $100 million note, worth nearly $880 U.S. ‚ 

A $100 million note! ‚ But really what’s the point of a $100 million bill when the bank has placed a $500,000 (nearly $4.50 U.S) cap on withdrawals. ‚ 

Strange to introduce a bill no one can really withdraw…‚ 

In addition to Zimbabwe’s economic woes, its government is in disarray. ‚ Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are locked in a power-sharing government that literally can’t get much done.

More power to the WHO for‚ increasing‚ aid, the country really needs international help. ‚ 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently called for Mugabe to step down. ‚ Totally agree.

More than 100 Zimbabwean doctors and nurses protested for better pay and working conditions Wednesday in Harare, only to have their demonstration cut short by police brandishing batons, according to the International Herald Tribune.

The doctors and nurses were easily distinguishable as many donned work uniforms. ‚ Nearby school teachers attempted to join the protest, only to be beaten away by police.

Fifteen were arrested in the peaceful demonstration, IHT reports.

The protest, demanding better pay and working conditions, was in response to the nation’s Cholera epidemic. ‚ Citizens are finding it harder and harder to survive in an economy hit with an unreal 231 million per cent inflation rate, therefore basic‚ necessities‚ like health care is not available for all. ‚ Hospitals throughout the country are closing.

Since August, deaths due to Cholera have risen to 565, according to the UN. ‚ More than 12,500 are infected in a society that lacks proper water purification chemicals.

Chaos is rule nowadays in Zimbabwe. ‚ Soldiers, angry with their meager salaries, have started‚ looting communities and assaulting women.

Many workers don’t have enough money to survive on a week-to-week basis. ‚ Employees do not have access to their full salaries since the Reserve Bank has put a cap on withdrawals, limiting them to 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars a week, equal to a ridiculous 20 cents.

Workers have submitted petitions to the chairman of the nation’s Reserve Bank, demanding the withdrawal limit be raised to 100 million Zimbabwean dollars per week, equal to about $40.

It is good that the‚ power-sharing government of the ruthless Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai‚ recently admitted that its country does have a Cholera epidemic; for a long while the government denied its existence. ‚ It has appealed to the World Health Organization for immediate help since it cannot tackle the problem on its own.

On the other hand, the action taken by police against the doctors and nurses is unacceptable. ‚ Peaceful protesters should never be attacked for any reason, especially when their message makes so much sense. I’m sure not one person thinks doctors and nurses protesting for better pay and working conditions is an outrageous cause.