Robert Mugabe refuses to quit as President of Zimbabwe after ‘bloodless coup’

metro.co.uk - Robert Mugabe has refused to resign as President of Zimbabwe during talks with generals who have taken control of the country. A source close to the top brass of the country’s military said: ‘They met today. He is refusing to step down. I think he is trying to buy time.’ A political source who spoke to senior allies holed up with Mugabe and his wife, Grace, in his lavish ‘Blue Roof’ Harare compound said Mugabe had no plans to resign voluntarily ahead of elections scheduled for next year. ‘It’s a sort of stand-off, a stalemate,’ the source said. ‘They are insisting the president must finish his term.’ Yesterday it was believed that Grace Mugabe had fled to Namibia after the army took control of government buildings and parliament. The army’s takeover signalled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through 37 years in power and built him into the ‘Grand Old Man’ of African politics.

A priest mediating between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in what they called a targeted operation against ‘criminals’ in Mugabe’s entourage, has made little headway, a senior political source told Reuters. The army has described the takeover as a ‘bloodless correction’, but insisted that it was not a coup.

Mugabe was kept under house arrest following a night of unrest that included a military takeover of the state broadcaster. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for Mugabe’s departure ‘in the interest of the people’. In a statement read to reporters, Tsvangirai pointedly referred to him as ‘Mr Robert Mugabe’, not President. The army appears to want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked last week triggering the political crisis. The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe from handing power to his wife Grace, 41 years his junior, who has built a following among the ruling party’s youth wing and appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out. (ontinueReading (ontinueReading