Why push is increasingly shove in African regime change

DAKAR, Senegal: Regime change - their welcome is wearing ever

- ing his political enemies, Mugabe and handed in his resignation,

leader from which he could no longer escape, ushering in a transition that, for now, is bloodless.

Zimbabweans are on the streets celebrating the end of a dictatorship, misplaced, said Rinaldo Depagne

Regime change “does not -

He clung to power in the hope of obsession that would turn into his greatest weakness and which could hold lessons for other leaders on the continent, observers said.

Tussle for legitimacy

“His fatal error was firing his vice president,” said Gilles Yabu, director of the West African thinktank Wathi.

- merson Mnangagwa, whose sack head of state.

Nicknamed “Ngwena” ( The - some power and ruthlessness,

- bied the veteran head of state to ditch his vice president, a longserving lieutenant, to further her own political ambitions.

But what if it had been Grace Mugabe rather than Mnangagwa

changed much for Zimbabweans,” said Mathias Hounkpe, an expert

Mnangagwa now heads - groups of organizing violent campaigns to crush dissent.

could provide.

their action to be perceived as a coup,” he explained, allowing protests to go ahead unhindered, among other measures, to gain popular support.

-

toppled Mugabe, it is the force on the streets that ensured there authorities or the beleaguered president,” Laurie said.

Dynasties shaken

The leaders of Gabon and Togo, who both succeeded fathers who had ruled for long stretches, their shoulders following the tumultuous events in Zimbabwe.

- ernment of Faure Gnassingbe, - adema, have led to the death of at least 16 people since August.

strict autocracies, have moved to uproot ruling families from their ranks.

One of the first decisions of daughter Isabel dos Santos from

Whatever comes after Mugabe, thing of the past, regardless of

“The idea of the leader who less and less accepted in Africa,” - low expert Yabi said the fall of Mugabe could signal to other