 According to a news report in "Al Jazeera", the Zimbabwe government and state media blamed the outbreak on European and American sanctions and a Reuters report said it accused Britain of plotting an invasion under the cover of the outbreak.Information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu blamed the cholera deaths on Western sanctions, saying "the cholera issue has been used to drive a wedge among us".On 12 December, Ndlovu repeated his accusation, and claimed that the cholera outbreak was actually a "serious biological-chemical weapon" attack by the United Kingdom, which Ndlovu asserted was trying to commit genocide.