Zimbabwe’s army leaves streets

HARARE (Reuters) – The Zimbabwe National Army declared an end on Monday to the military intervention that ousted former president Robert Mugabe, promising to shut down their last roadblocks in the capital and hand over local authority to police. The armed soldiers who took to the streets during last month’s de facto coup had largely disappeared from the city center by Monday afternoon. Just a handful could be seen standing around with civilian police.

“Normalcy has now returned to our country. It is for this reason that... we announce the end of Operation Restore Legacy today,” Cmdr. Phillip Sibanda said, referring to the name of the intervention which the army said targeted criminals in the entourage of the 93-year-old Mugabe and his wife, Grace.

Civic groups have been urging the soldiers to leave the streets since Mugabe’s former deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was sworn in to replace him as president of the southern African country on November 24.

Defense Forces Cmdr.-Gen. Constantino Chiwenga, who spearheaded the de facto coup, was initially billed as being scheduled to address reporters, but he did not turn up and no explanation was given for his absence. He is widely seen as a contender to become vice president, a post that Mnangagwa has promised to fill in the next few days.

Mnangagwa made three generals members of the ruling ZANU-PF Party’s executive politburo on Friday.