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Mugabe in Contact With Ousted Vice President

Mugabe in Contact With Ousted Vice President
folder_openAfrica... access_time6 years ago
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Local Editor

Zimbabwe's top general said Monday talks were planned between President Robert Mugabe and former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking by the 93-year-old leader two weeks ago triggered a coup.

Mugabe in Contact With Ousted Vice President

Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, head of the armed forces and leader of the takeover code-named "Operation Restore Legacy," told a news conference he was encouraged by contact between the two men and Mnangagwa would be back soon.

"Thereafter, the nation will be advised on the outcome of talks between the two," he said.

Earlier, Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF resolved to bring a motion in Parliament Tuesday to impeach Mugabe, after a noon deadline expired for the besieged leader to resign and bring the curtain down on nearly four decades in power.

Impeachment could see Mugabe out in days and be an ignominious end to the career of the "Grand Old Man" of African politics, once lauded as an anti-colonial hero.

In the draft motion, the party accused Mugabe of being a "source of instability" and presiding over an "unprecedented economic tailspin" in the last 15 years.

It also said he had abused his constitutional mandate to favor his unpopular wife Grace, 52, whose tilt at power triggered the backlash from the army that brought tanks onto the streets of the capital last week. Mnangagwa's removal was to boost her chances of succeeding her husband.

On paper, the impeachment process is long-winded, involving a joint sitting of the Senate and National Assembly, then a nine-member committee of senators, then another joint sitting to confirm his dismissal with a two-thirds majority. However, constitutional experts said ZANU-PF, in revolt against Mugabe, could push it through quickly. "They can fast-track it. It can be done in a matter of a day," said John Makamure, executive director of the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust.

Mugabe's demise, now apparently inevitable, is likely to send shockwaves across Africa. A number of entrenched strongmen, from Uganda's Yoweri Museveni to Democratic Republic of Congo's Joseph Kabila, are facing mounting pressure to step aside.

zimbabwe | robert mugabe | africa

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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