Robert Mugabe’s regime declared a national emergency and appealed for international help to combat rampant cholera yesterday in an unprecedented acknowledgement of its failings.

With the official death toll from the cholera epidemic reaching 570 and 13,000 people infected, the Government admitted that Zimbabwe’s once-proud medical system had collapsed and appealed for help even from Britain, which Mr Mugabe has blamed repeatedly for his country’s many problems.

“Our central hospitals are literally not working,” David Parirenyatwa, the Health Minister, said. “Our staff is demotivated and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived.”

Gordon Brown responded by pledging an additional £10 million to combat the crisis. “For once we agree with the Government of Zimbabwe — this is a national emergency,” the Prime Minister said. “Mugabe’s failed state is no longer willing or capable of protecting its people. Thousands are stricken with cholera and must be helped urgently.”

The appeal by the regime will heighten the sense that Mr Mugabe is losing control of a country that he has practically destroyed during 28 years of misrule. The official inflation rate is 231 million per cent — but in reality the Zimbabwean dollar is effectively worthless and defunct. The country is almost out of food and fuel.

Other African states are stepping up the pressure on Mr Mugabe. Yesterday, in unusually robust words for an African leader, Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga called on African governments to work together to topple Mr Mugabe. “Power sharing is dead in Zimbabwe and will not work with a dictator who does not really believe in power sharing,” said Mr Odinga, referring to the negotiations on forming a unity government with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that Mr Mugabe has strung out for nearly three months. “It’s time for African governments to take decisive action to push him out of power.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa expressed similar sentiments, openly calling for Mr Mugabe’s removal. “If they say to him ‘step down’, and he refuses, they must do so militarily,” he said.

One senior Western diplomat was cautious about declaring this the beginning of the end of the Mugabe regime, but conceded that there were “more than a few straws in the wind”.

The cholera epidemic has been caused by the collapse of the country’s water and sewage systems since the ruling Zanu (PF) party removed control of those services from cities with MDC mayors three years ago and set up the inept Zimbabwe National Water Authority.

Many poor urban areas go weeks or months without water, and Harare lost its entire supply for 48 hours this week. Even the Parliament and High Court closed down recently for lack of clean water.

The main hospitals in the capital, the second city of Bulawayo and other centres have been closed by doctors and nurses demanding better pay and conditions, and because they have run out of medicines and equipment. On Wednesday riot police baton-charged a demonstration by more than a hundred doctors and nurses.

Until last week the Government claimed that it was in control of the crisis, though it offered little practical help beyond an appeal to Zimbabweans to stop shaking hands.

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