Tag: Mugabe

China pays tribute to ‘outstanding’ Zimbabwe leader Mugabe

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing paid tribute to Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe whose death was announced Friday, saying he was an “outstanding national liberation movement leader and politician”. China was one of the staunchest supporters of Mugabe, who lead from 1980 to 2017. His death at the age of 95 was announced by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. “Mugabe was an outstanding national liberation movement leader and politician of Zimbabwe,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng […]

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Zimbabwe ex-president Mugabe dies aged 95

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Robert Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2017, has died aged 95, the country’s president announced Friday. Mugabe was first heralded as a liberator who rid the former British colony of Rhodesia of white minority rule, but was later ousted by his previously loyal military generals. “It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father and former President… Robert Mugabe,” Emmerson Mnangagwa said in […]

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Counting begins in Zimbabwe’s first post-Mugabe election

by Susan NJANJI / Fanuel JONGWE Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Counting was underway in Zimbabwe’s first election since Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power as observers warned of possible shortcomings in Monday’s landmark poll. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former right-hand man in the ruling ZANU-PF party, faced off against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) in the historic vote. “I am not shy to […]

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Mnangagwa to be sworn in as Zimbabwe president

by Reagan Mashavave Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa was set to be sworn in as president on Friday, marking the final chapter of a political drama that toppled his predecessor Robert Mugabe after a military takeover. Mnangagwa, until recently one of Mugabe’s closest allies, will take the oath of office at the national sports stadium on the outskirts of Harare before thousands of supporters, dignitaries and foreign diplomats. Mugabe, who […]

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Zimbabwe’s next leader says post-Mugabe era is ‘full democracy’

by Susan Njanji and Reagan Mashavave Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Zimbabwe’s incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa told adoring crowds in Harare on Wednesday that they were witnessing “unfolding full democracy” as he returned to take power after Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years in power. It was his first public speech since Mugabe fired him on November 6 over a succession tussle with the former first lady, a move that prompted the military’s […]

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Zimbabweans celebrate in S. Africa years after fleeing Mugabe

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Hundreds of Zimbabweans who fled their homeland for South Africa during the despotic rule of Robert Mugabe took to the streets of Johannesburg to celebrate the resignation of the hated president. Blowing vuvuzelas, waving Zimbabwean flags and stamping their feet, Zimbabweans danced their way through Hillbrow, a cosmopolitan Johannesburg neighborhood with a strong community of African immigrants. “We want to go back home, even tomorrow, even now at night. I’m […]

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Mugabe resigns, ending 37-year reign over Zimbabwe

by Susan Njanji, Fanuel Jongwe, Reagan Mashavave and Ben Sheppard Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Robert Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president on Tuesday, finally swept from power as his 37-year reign of autocratic control and brutality crumbled within days of a military takeover. The move looks set to end Zimbabwe’s worst political crisis since it won independence from Britain in 1980. The bombshell announcement came at a special joint session of parliament convened […]

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Army appeals for calm as Mugabe faces impeachment test

by Susan Njanji and Ben Sheppard Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe came under increasing pressure to quit Monday as his ruling party said it would move to impeach him and the army revealed his likely successor would soon return to the country. In a televised address late Sunday, the 93-year-old president had flouted expectations he would step down after the military’s takeover, pitching the country into a second week […]

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Mugabe clings to office; dashes resignation hopes in TV speech

by Susan Njanji Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Robert Mugabe clung on as Zimbabwe’s president Sunday, using national TV to insist he still holds power despite a military takeover and mounting pressure for his autocratic 37-year rule to end. Crowds who gathered in bars and cafes in Harare to watch the address, which was widely expected would end in the 93-year-old’s resignation, were left stunned and disconsolate. Some wept openly. “The (ruling ZANU-PF) […]

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Zimbabwe’s ousted vice president back in the country

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Zimbabwe’s former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking last week triggered the military takeover, has returned to the country, a senior aide told AFP on Friday. “Yes, he is back,” said the aide, who declined to be named, adding that Mnangagwa, who is a potential successor to President Robert Mugabe, had returned on Thursday after nearly a week abroad. In talks with the army chief on Thursday, Mugabe refused to resign, […]

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Mugabe refuses to stand down in talks with military

by Susan Njanji Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, refused to resign during a crunch meeting Thursday with military generals who have seized control of the country. The talks in Harare came after tumultuous days in which soldiers blockaded key roads, took over state TV and put the veteran leader under house arrest. “They met today. He is refusing to step down. I think […]

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Military vehicles patrol Harare streets, Mugabe resists pressure to quit

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) — Military vehicles were seen outside Zimbabwe’s parliament building and soldiers were seen patrolling the streets in Harare on Thursday (November 16). President Robert Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler, an intelligence source said on Thursday, and is resisting mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup. The priest, Fidelis Mukonori, is acting as a middle-man between Mugabe and […]

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