ZIMBABWE’S MUGABE UNDER HOUSE ARREST
MILITARY TAKES OVER, GENERALS SAY IT’S NOT A COUP
HARARE: Zimbabwe’s military took control of the country on Wednesday as President Robert Mugabe said he was under house arrest, although generals denied staging a coup.
Mugabe’s decades-long grip on power appeared to be fading as military vehicles blocked roads outside the parliament in Harare and senior soldiers delivered a late-night television address to the nation.
“The president... and his family are safe and sound and their security is guaranteed,” Maj Gen Sibusiso Moyo said.
“We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes... As soon as we have accomplished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy.
“This is not a military takeover of government.”
But the generals’ actions posed a major challenge to the 93-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.
South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, one of Mugabe’s closest allies, said he had spoken to the veteran leader by telephone.
Mugabe “indicated that he was confined to his home but said that he was fine,” the South African government said.
Tensions between Mugabe and the military establishment, which has long helped prop up his authoritarian rule, erupted in public over recent weeks.
The ruling Zanu-PF party on Tuesday accused army chief Gen Constantino Chiwenga of “treasonable conduct” after he criticised Mugabe for sacking vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The dismissal left Mugabe’s wife Grace, 52, in prime position to succeed her husband as the next president -- a succession strongly opposed by senior ranks in the military.
As the situation deteriorated overnight, prolonged gunfire was heard near Mugabe’s private residence.
South Africa urged Zimbabwe to resist any “unconstitutional changes” of government, and said it was sending envoys to Harare on behalf of the SADC bloc of southern African nations to help resolve the impasse.
The African Union said the crisis in Zimbabwe “seems like a coup” and called on the military to halt their actions and restore constitutional order.
Mugabe is the world’s oldest head of state, but his poor health has fuelled a bitter succession battle as potential replacements jockey for position. His lengthy rule has been marked by brutal repression of dissent, mass emigration, vote-rigging and economic collapse since land reforms in 2000.