ZANU-PF names Emmerson Mnangagwa as replacement

HARARE: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was on Sunday facing the imminent end of his 37-year rule as the once-loyal ZANUPF party sacked him as its leader and army generals piled pressure on him to resign.

Mugabe’s grip on power was broken last week when the military took over, angered at his wife Grace’s emergence as the leading candidate to succeed the 93-year-old president.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of overjoyed demonstrators flooded the streets of Zimbabwe in peaceful celebrations marking the apparent end of his long and authoritarian rule.

Outside a ZANU-PF meeting in Harare, a delegate told AFP that Mugabe had been ousted as party chief and replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was previously Grace Mugabe’s chief rival to succeed the aging president.

“A resolution has been adopted to recall the president and elevate Mnangagwa as the party president,” said the delegate, who declined to be named.

Mugabe — the world’s oldest head of state — remains national president for the time being but now faces overwhelming opposition from the generals, much of the Zimbabwean public and from his own party.

“(Mugabe’s) wife and close associ- ates have taken advantage of his frail condition to usurp power and loot state resources,” party official Obert Mpofu told the ZANU-PF meeting.

Army chiefs who led the takeover were due to hold further talks with the president later Sunday.

The two sides first met on Thursday, smiling in photographs that attempted to present a dignified image of the tense process of negoti- ating Mugabe’s departure.

Veterans of the independence war — who were also formerly key Mugabe allies — added their voice in support of him resigning, demanding that he leave office on Sunday.

Zimbabweans have experienced a historic week in which the military seized power and put Mugabe under house arrest in response to his sack- ing of vice president Mnangagwa, who has close military ties.

On Saturday, in scenes of public euphoria not seen since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, huge crowds marched and sang their way through Harare and other cities.

The demonstrations included citizens of all ages, jubilant that Mugabe appeared to be on his way out.