Army seizes power in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s military seized power early on Wednesday targeting “criminals” around President Robert Mugabe but gave assurances on national television that the 93-year-old leader and his family were “safe and sound”.

Soldiers and armoured vehicles blocked roads to the main government offices, parliament and the courts in central Harare, while taxis ferried commuters to work nearby, a witness said.

Mugabe, the self-styled ‘Grand Old Man’ of African politics, has led Zimbabwe for the last 37 years. In contrast to his elevated status on the continent, Mugabe is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa’s most promising states.

“We are only targeting criminals around him (Mugabe) who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice,” Major General SB Moyo, Chief of Staff Logistics, said on television. “As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect the situation will return to normalcy.”

The nation’s war veterans praised the army for carrying out “a bloodless correction of gross abuse of power.”

Neither Mugabe nor his wife Grace, who has been vying to succeed her husband as president, have been seen since the move. Mugabe had chaired a weekly cabinet meeting in the capital on Tuesday, officials said.

However, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma spoke to Mugabe on Wednesday, and Mugabe told Zuma that he was confined to his home but that he was fine.

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