Supporters of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe have raised $250,000 US for his birthday celebrations, state media reported, even as the beleaguered country seeks $2 billion in aid from its neighbours to spark its flattened economy.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe turned 85 on Feb. 21. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)The Herald newspaper reported Friday that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will attend the celebrations that come a week after Mugabe's 85th birthday on Feb. 21. Saturday's celebrations will be held in Chinhoyi, north of the capital Harare, despite initial reports that the fundraising committee was struggling to bankroll the event.

"President Mugabe extended an invitation to the prime minister, and in the interest of togetherness and national unity, he will grace the occasion," the Herald quoted Tsvangirai's office as saying.

Tsvangirai has not attended the annual event since 1999, and last year derided Mugabe's 84th birthday celebrations as elitist, saying they were "a gathering of the satisfied few."

Tsvangirai made his first public appearance on Friday since joining the unity government as prime minister on Feb. 11. He toured the dilapidated main hospital in Harare, voicing his dismay that all the institution needed to be brought up to snuff is $1.5 million. The Zimbabwe Times quoted him as saying that the government would move quickly to address the situation.

Earlier this week, he said long-term economic recovery could cost as much as $5 billion.

Aid request at African conference

Zimbabwean officials asked some of their counterparts for around $2 billion in aid at a two-day conference of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Cape Town, South Africa, that ended Thursday.

The conference yielded no concrete assurances of aid, but member countries said they would press donors and international financial institutions for aid on Zimbabwe's behalf.

South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel told South African radio on Thursday that Zimbabwe wanted about $1 billion to kick-start retail and other sectors, and the rest to help reopen schools and restore health and municipal services.

South Africa is in the midst of a recession, however, and has limited resources to help.

Other southern African countries are also reeling from the global economic downturn, and there is skepticism about how Zimbabwe would use the money.

African development bank head Donald Kaberuka said Zimbabwe also must settle its existing debt before it could expect huge foreign aid. Harare owes the bank around $460 million, he said, and the international community around $5 billion.

Zimbabwe is also faced with the world's highest official inflation rate, estimated to be more than 230 million per cent annually.

Meanwhile, basic water and sanitation infrastructures are crumbling. An estimated two-thirds of Zimbabweans are in need of food aid, and a cholera epidemic has sickened more than 80,000 people and killed more than 3,800 since August.

With files from the Associated Press