HARARE, Zimbabwe – Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell ended his three-year term in Zimbabwe with a message for the citizens of the troubled southern African country: “Keep the faith. Things will change soon.”

Dell, an outspoken critic of President Robert Mugabe’s human and democratic rights record, left Saturday for his next post as ambassador of Afghanistan.

Dell has predicted total economic collapse in Zimbabwe by the end of the year and said in one farewell interview with an independent newspaper last month that the government was “doing regime change to itself” through economic mismanagement and a crackdown on prices.

As he walked through Harare’s international airport Saturday, Dell told a reporter for the country’s only broadcaster that he urged Zimbabweans to “keep the faith. Things will change soon.”

The government has accused Western nations of backing a political and economic campaign for “regime change” to try to oust longtime ruler Mugabe, 83. State television said Dell’s mission to bring down Mugabe was left unfulfilled and he left the country a humiliated man.

Zimbabweans are bracing for another week of economic strife as the United States and Australia warned their citizens against traveling to the southern African nation and urged those already here to avoid the countryside and tourist attractions.

Price cuts of at least 50 percent _ ordered by the government on June 26 in an attempt to curb rampant inflation _ have led to acute food shortages and near riots as cheaper goods went on sale.

Orders to slash the price of gasoline to less than half the import cost saw buses taken out of service. Chaos on commuter routes is expected to worsen at the start of the work week Monday.

The U.S. warned of state-sponsored violence and said the price crackdown raised security concerns. In an advisory released Thursday, the State Department asked Americans in Zimbabwe to minimize travel and, where practical, avoid public places and gatherings.

“In light of current circumstances, U.S. citizens are advised to consider the risk before traveling to Zimbabwe at this time,” the advisory said.

An Australian government advisory issued Wednesday said rapidly worsening economic conditions could lead to civil unrest “at any time,” affecting visitors to the famed northwestern Victoria Falls resort and nature preserves.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs warned some 700 of its nationals living and working in Zimbabwe that the security situation could “deteriorate quickly and without warning.”

It said in the absence of the rule of law there was a high level of criminal activity and economic conditions could lead to civil unrest.

In Harare, churchgoers lined up for hours at bus stops Sunday before many scrambled aboard open trucks and into private cars offering rides. Bus operators said subsidized gas offered by the government either ran out or caused chaotic jams of honking minibus taxis at gas stations.

Caller congestion has almost collapsed already overburdened cell phone services after the government ordered the country’s three networks to reduce their charges.

Shelves in stores remained bare of cornmeal, bread, meat and other staples. Shoppers mobbed a suburban supermarket after word spread by mobile phone that it received a delivery of a few dozen loaves of bread Sunday. Another supermarket filled empty shelves with bundles of firewood normally sold by vendors on the street during daily power outages.

Shoppers have stampeded clothing and shoe stores, as well. One Harare electronics store was overwhelmed Thursday by shoppers who carried away television sets and other electrical appliances for a third of the listed price.

Witnesses said plasma TVs went for as little as 10 million Zimbabwe dollars ($660 at the nearly defunct official exchange rate, or $75 at the black market rate).

The state Sunday Mail newspaper, a government mouthpiece, described the shopping spree for cheaper goods as “Christmas in July” for impoverished victims of overcharging and profiteering by businesses. But it acknowledged that many shoppers were panic-buying due to uncertainty over the resupply of goods to shops.

Nearly 2,000 business executives, managers, traders bus operators have been arrested and fined for defying the June 26 edict on prices.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)