Zimbabwe’s president escapes apparent assassination attempt
NAIROBI — Zimbabwe’s election campaign season took a worrying turn Saturday afternoon when a crude bombing at a speech delivered by president Emmerson Mnangagwa appeared to be an attempt on his life.
Mnangagwa had just finished giving a speech in a stadium in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, when the blast went off near him and other government officials as they moved offstage. Widely circulated videos on social media show a cloud of smoke and a small explosion knocking over people standing in the vicinity.
The president’s spokesman, George Charamba, released a statement saying that Mnangagwa was unhurt and that an investigation was underway.
“There have been multiple attempts on the president’s life over the past five years,” Charamba said.
It was unclear whether anyone was killed in the blast, but video from ZBC, the state broadcaster, showed medics attending to wounded people. The staterun newspaper, the Herald, quickly termed the attack an “assassination attempt.”
Just a few hours after the attack, Mnangagwa took to Twitter to issue a statement calling for peace and unity. He said Saturday’s “senseless act” would not get in the way of the upcoming elections.
“Several people were affected by the blast, and I have already been to visit them in the hospital,” he wrote. “The strongest response to violence is peace. The strongest response to hate is love.”
One of the wounded whom Mnangagwa visited was the wife of a former army general, Constantino Chiwenga, who was instrumental in November’s coup. Chiwenga is now one of Zimbabwe’s two vice presidents. The other, Kembo Mohadi, may also have been wounded, according to the Herald.