Despite "targeted sanctions imposed on some individuals in government", the European Union (EU) has "not abandoned" Zimbabweans, according to a visiting EU official.

"The EU is constantly looking for solutions through dialogue," said Xavier Marchal, who led 14 EU ambassadors on a 2-day tour of projects funded by the EU in southern Zimbabwe, including Bulawayo, the country's second city, which is experiencing a diarrhoea outbreak.

After Zimbabwe expelled its election observer team, the EU imposed targeted sanctions in February 2002, including a travel ban on senior officials of the ruling ZANU-PF party and freezing their foreign bank accounts. The EU has since renewed the sanctions.

The European Commission (EC) and individual EU countries, which are Zimbabwe's biggest donors, intend to scale up their funding in 2008, said Marchal.

In 2006 alone, EC-funded support for Zimbabwe amounted to more than US$125 million, while EU support, including bilateral support from member states, amounted to almost $282 million.

"We are going to commit more funds to water and sanitation, health, education, food aid, governance and the promotion of human rights ... we know that water is a difficult problem in Bulawayo," said Marchal. The city has recorded more than 3,000 cases since the diarrhoea outbreak was reported in August.

According to international donor agencies, more than a third of Zimbabwe's population, or 4.1 million people, require emergency food aid, which analysts say is a result of the chaotic land reform programme and drought. The government blames the food shortages on sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union as well as the weather.

President Robert Mugabe launched the government's fast-track land reform programme in 2000, and since then the inflation rate has risen to nearly 8,000 percent - the highest in the world - and has also led to acute shortages of foreign exchange to buy spare parts, chemical inputs, fuel and electricity. Electrical and fuel-driven irrigation equipment has also been left inoperable.

Low rainfall and an inability to keep up with the demands of a growing population in a depressed economic environment have put many of Bulawayo's 1.5 million residents in the grip of water shortages and often having to obtain water from unprotected sources.

Four months ago, the EC sunk 200 boreholes around Bulawayo to help city residents access water, but it has not been enough to keep up with the demand. Marchal said the EC would commit more funds to helping Bulawayo cope with its water shortage.