Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government Thursday broke its silence over details over its controversial Operation Hakudzokwi, where security forces drove out thousands of illegal diamond diggers in the east of the country.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted senior assistant police commissioner Faustino Mazango as saying the police had forced out 35,000 diamond diggers and dealers from Chiadza diamond field about 60 kilometres south of the eastern city of Mutare.

Since the beginning of the year, the field has been inundated with people searching for alluvial diamonds.

Geneva/Harare - The death toll in Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak shot up to 746, the United Nations reported Wednesday.

The figure released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, which reflects the situation as of Tuesday, marks a sharp increase from the 589 that had died by the weekend.

The increase is likely due to the fact that the latest figures include 256 people who have died outside health clinics in their communities.

The total number of suspected cases has also galloped ahead to 15,572, OCHA said.

Harare - Zimbabwe's controversial central bank governor Gideon Gono claimed that outgoing United States president George W Bush had endorsed a proposal to give him a senior position in the World Bank, state media reported Wednesday.

Governor Gideon Gono also said that the purported offer was approved by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and that it was conveyed to him by James McGee, the outspoken US ambassador to Zimbabwe, the government-controlled Herald newspaper reported.

It said Gono made the remarks on Monday at a private launch of a book Gono has written, in which the claims are described in detail.

Harare/Johannesburg - A group of senior United Nations officials has arrived in Zimbabwe to lead efforts to combat a devastating cholera epidemic, answering an appeal by President Robert Mugabe's government last week for help.

At least 575 people have died and over 12,000 people been infected in a cholera outbreak that began in sewage-drenched poor urban townships in August.

Because those figures do not include people who died at home, the real toll is thought to be much higher.

The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper said Tuesday that five World Health Organization (WHO) experts arrived from Geneva on Monday.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Dec. 4  -- The Zimbabwe government has appealed for more than $450 million for food, officials said Thursday.

Harare - Zimbabwe has declared the cholera outbreak that has claimed close to 600 lives a national emergency, and appealed for international aid to immediately tackle the epidemic, Health Minister David Parirenyatwa confirmed Thursday.

Parirenyatwa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "We are expecting the international community to chip in with assistance so that the pandemic can be eradicated as soon as possible."