U.S. President George Bush has called for the end of President Robert Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe and the formation of a legitimate government that reflects the will of people. In a strongly-worded statement on Saturday, Bush accused the Mugabe government of suppressing democracy and the human rights eight months after Zimbabwe’s people voted for a new president. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe government is blocking the access in Zimbabwe of a delegation led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who were asked to reschedule their visit for another time. The Zimbabwean government made it clear that it will not cooperate with the group’s humanitarian effort, who wants to visit Zimbabwe for a first-hand look at the emerging cholera crisis.

The main Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai met with the delegation in Johannesburg, South Africa, but details about the meeting were not disclosed. Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and soaring inflation have resulted in chronic shortages of food, fuel and other basic goods and services. In his statement, President Bush also said that, in spite of the Mugabe regime’s repressive actions, the United States will honor its commitment to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Zimbabwe, assistance already totaling $186 million so far this year.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe, an 84-year-old, is the President of Zimbabwe since 1987, being Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987. Since the run-off election of 2008, his legitimacy as president has been called into question. The G8 released a collective statement in July, saying that they do not accept the legitimacy of a government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people. The presidential elections were conducted on March 29, 2008, together with the parliamentary elections. On April 2, 2008, the Zimbabwe Election Commission confirmed that Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, had lost control of Parliament to the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.