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Zimbabwe's opposition leader calls on Mugabe to step down
ppc agency
Zimbabwe's opposition leader calls on Mugabe to step down
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has asked President Robert Mugabe to resign immediately followed by free and fair elections, while sources said Mugabe was meeting African envoys in Harare and resisting the army's pressure to give up power.
"The crucial point to resolve this crisis in Zimbabwe is a complete return to legitimacy and full civilian rule," he told reporters in his first public comments since the army seized power and put Mugabe under house arrest.
Tsvangirai, who returned to Zimbabwe a day after staying at a hospital in South Africa, called for a "transition mechanism involving all parties" and for the elections.
He said his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) praised "the assurances, commitment to peace and the inviolability of human life by the Zimbabwe Defense Forces."
"We support the movement of the army, but the country must quickly return to constitutional rule," Secretary General of the Movement Douglas Munzora told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"What we need now is a government capable of leading Zimbabwe until it is time for elections," said former minister Didimos Motasa.
Intelligence reports indicate that Emerson Manganagua, who was sacked by Mugabe this month as vice president, has been setting a post-Mugabe vision with the military and the opposition for more than a year.
Motasa was sacked in late 2014 with Vice President Joyce Muguru. Morgan Tsvangirai was also banned from office in 2008, when Mugabe swore that "God alone can remove him from power," which plunged the country into a wave of violence before Tsvangirai temporarily appointed Mugabe.
Meanwhile, an intelligence source told Reuters on Thursday that Mugabe insists he is still the country's only legitimate ruler and is resisting the mediation of a Catholic priest to leave power quietly after the military coup.
The source said Rev. Fidelis Mukonori was mediating between Mugabe and military leaders who seized power on Wednesday in an operation targeting what they described as "criminals" around the president.
Mugabe, his wife Grace and two senior figures of her political wing "G40" are under house arrest in Mugabe's Blue House compound in Harare.
A source who spoke to people inside the compound said the two members of the political G-40 wing were ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saffior Kasukwere, who fled to the compound after their homes were attacked by troops on Tuesday evening.coup
For his part, warned Guinean President Alpha Kondi, who currently chairs the African Union that the Union would not accept the "military coup" in Zimbabwe, calling for the return of constitutional order to this country.
Condi stressed today the need to "find a political solution to these internal problems within the presidential party, not through the intervention of the army," explaining that he "did not contact" immediately after President Mugabe.
Earlier, the African Union described Zimbabwe as a coup. "The Zimbabwean army has told a number of regional leaders that its move to take power from President Mugabe was not a coup,
"We want to reassure the people that the president is safe and unharmed," said his spokesman, Sibiso Moyo. "We target the criminals surrounding him (the president) who have caused social suffering and economic problems."
But the manifestations of the coup are clear in the opinion of observers in the streets of the capital Harare, the army clearly controls the situation, while the next steps remain vague.
Source: Agencies
Zimbabwe's opposition leader calls on Mugabe to step down
ppc agency
Zimbabwe's opposition leader calls on Mugabe to step down
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has asked President Robert Mugabe to resign immediately followed by free and fair elections, while sources said Mugabe was meeting African envoys in Harare and resisting the army's pressure to give up power.
"The crucial point to resolve this crisis in Zimbabwe is a complete return to legitimacy and full civilian rule," he told reporters in his first public comments since the army seized power and put Mugabe under house arrest.
Tsvangirai, who returned to Zimbabwe a day after staying at a hospital in South Africa, called for a "transition mechanism involving all parties" and for the elections.
He said his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) praised "the assurances, commitment to peace and the inviolability of human life by the Zimbabwe Defense Forces."
"We support the movement of the army, but the country must quickly return to constitutional rule," Secretary General of the Movement Douglas Munzora told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"What we need now is a government capable of leading Zimbabwe until it is time for elections," said former minister Didimos Motasa.
Intelligence reports indicate that Emerson Manganagua, who was sacked by Mugabe this month as vice president, has been setting a post-Mugabe vision with the military and the opposition for more than a year.
Motasa was sacked in late 2014 with Vice President Joyce Muguru. Morgan Tsvangirai was also banned from office in 2008, when Mugabe swore that "God alone can remove him from power," which plunged the country into a wave of violence before Tsvangirai temporarily appointed Mugabe.
Meanwhile, an intelligence source told Reuters on Thursday that Mugabe insists he is still the country's only legitimate ruler and is resisting the mediation of a Catholic priest to leave power quietly after the military coup.
The source said Rev. Fidelis Mukonori was mediating between Mugabe and military leaders who seized power on Wednesday in an operation targeting what they described as "criminals" around the president.
Mugabe, his wife Grace and two senior figures of her political wing "G40" are under house arrest in Mugabe's Blue House compound in Harare.
A source who spoke to people inside the compound said the two members of the political G-40 wing were ministers Jonathan Moyo and Saffior Kasukwere, who fled to the compound after their homes were attacked by troops on Tuesday evening.coup
For his part, warned Guinean President Alpha Kondi, who currently chairs the African Union that the Union would not accept the "military coup" in Zimbabwe, calling for the return of constitutional order to this country.
Condi stressed today the need to "find a political solution to these internal problems within the presidential party, not through the intervention of the army," explaining that he "did not contact" immediately after President Mugabe.
Earlier, the African Union described Zimbabwe as a coup. "The Zimbabwean army has told a number of regional leaders that its move to take power from President Mugabe was not a coup,
"We want to reassure the people that the president is safe and unharmed," said his spokesman, Sibiso Moyo. "We target the criminals surrounding him (the president) who have caused social suffering and economic problems."
But the manifestations of the coup are clear in the opinion of observers in the streets of the capital Harare, the army clearly controls the situation, while the next steps remain vague.
Source: Agencies