Gabe should resign immediately
tions for security and stability prevail,” said Mnangagwa, who has a loyal support base in the military. “Never should the nation be held at ransom by one person ever again, whose desire is to die in office at whatever cost to the nation.”
Zimbabwe’s polarizing first lady, Grace Mugabe, had been positioning herself to succeed her husband, leading a party faction that engineered Mnangagwa’s ouster. The prospect of a dynastic succession alarmed the military, which confined Mugabe to his home last week and targeted what it called “criminals” around him who allegedly were looting state resources — a reference to associates of the first lady.
Mnangagwa was targeted by U.S. sanctions in the early 2000s for undermining democratic development in Zimbabwe, according to the Atlantic Council, a U.S.-based policy institute. However, J. Peter Pham, an Africa expert at the council, noted that some Zimbabwean opposition figures have appeared willing to have dialogue with Mnangagwa in order to move the country forward and that the international community should consider doing the same.
“We’re not saying whitewash the past, but it is in the interests of everyone that Zimbabwe is engaged at this critical time,” Pham said in a statement.
Impeachment proceedings were expected to start with the resumption of parliament on Tuesday, days after huge crowds surged through the capital, Harare, to demand that Mugabe quit. The ruling party instructed government ministers to boycott a Cabinet meeting that Mugabe called for Tuesday morning at State House, the president’s official residence.
Ruling party chief whip Lovemore Matuke said ministers were told to instead attend a meeting at party headquarters to work on the impeachment.
The ruling party says the charges for impeachment include that Mugabe “allowed his wife to usurp constitutional power” and that he is “of advanced age” and no longer has the physical capacity to run the government.
It was not clear how long the impeachment process could take. The ruling party has said Mugabe could be voted out as early as Wednesday but some analysts believe the impeachment process could take weeks and would, if conducted properly, allow Mugabe to make a case in his defense.
Mnangagwa said he was aware of the move to impeach Mugabe. Though unpopular in some parts of Zimbabwe, the former vice president called for unity and appeared to embrace the prospect of taking over power.
“I will not stand in the way of the people and my party,” he said.
Body recovered, bringing flood death toll to 21
Greece’s fire department says search crews have recovered the body of a one person missing since deadly floods struck near Athens last week, bringing the death toll to 21. The man’s body was recovered Tuesday in the Mandra district west of Athens, the area hardest hit by the floods and where the vast majority of fatalities occurred. Disaster response crews continue to search for one more missing person. Wednesday’s floods turned roads into raging torrents of mud and debris, flung cars into buildings, swept away walls and inundated a section of a major highway. Nearly 1,000 buildings, mostly homes and small businesses in the modest working-class district of Mandra and nearby Nea Peramos, were damaged.
President calls Arab League ‘worn-out’ body
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has criticized the Arab League for supporting Saudi Arabia and its role in the war in Yemen. Rouhani on Tuesday said it’s unfortunate the organization expressed regret that the Yemeni rebels known as Houthis launched a ballistic missile into Saudi Arabia earlier this month in response to “so much bombing” by the Saudi-led coalition. He also called the regional organization of Arab countries “old, wornout, exhausted and ineffective.” State TV broadcast the remarks. Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday accused Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of destabilizing the region. Tensions spiked between Saudi Arabia and Iran after the Houthis fired the missile that was intercepted outside Riyadh.