*Robert and Grace Mugabe |
Military officers denied they had carried out
a coup, announcing on state TV that they were targeting a ring of government
plotters following a power struggle that saw the vice-president flee the
country last week.
"It is not a military takeover of government,"
an army spokesman said in a televised statement. "We wish to assure the
nation that his excellency the president... and his family are safe and sound
and their security is guaranteed.
"We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.
"We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.
"As soon as we have accomplished our
mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy."
The address came hours after several loud
explosions echoed across central Harare and
troops seized the headquarters of the ZBC, Zimbabwe 's state broadcaster.
"Although it doesn’t look like a coup, it
is a coup,” Zimbabwe
analyst Alex Magaisa, a senior Zimbabwe
legal analyst based in the UK , told The Telegraph.
Several cabinet
ministers, including local government minister Saviour Kasukuwere and
finance minister Ignatius Chombo, and Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwayo, were
arrested. There was allegedly a brief gun fight outside Mr Chombo’s
house. All three are part of the G40 faction of Zanu-PF which is loyal to
Grace Mugabe, who was being lined up to take over from her husband after the
vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa was fired last week.
Speculation had been mounting throughout the
day that a coup was under way against Mr Mugabe, after the head
of the armed forces threatened to "step in" over the sacking of
an influential vice president.
*Buhari and Mugabe |
Gunfire erupted near Mr Mugabe's private
residence in Harare
in the early hours of Wednesday, a witness told AFP.
"From the direction of his house, we
heard about 30 or 40 shots fired over three or four minutes soon after 2.00
am," a resident who lives close to Mugabe's mansion in the suburb of
Borrowdale said.
Armed soldiers were assaulting passers-by in
the early morning hours in Harare ,
according to the Associated Press, while officers were seen loading
ammunition near a group of four military vehicles.
Two hours later,
soldiers overran ZBC, a principal Mugabe mouthpiece, and ordered staff to
leave. Several ZBC workers were manhandled, two members of staff and a human
rights activist said.
Shortly afterwards, three explosions rocked
the centre of the southern African nation's capital, near the University of Zimbabwe
campus, witnesses said.
Tensions have been
building in Zimbabwe since
Mr Mnangagwa, a powerful figure in the ruling Zanu-PF party, fled to South Africa
last week after he was fired and was then stripped of his lifetime membership
of the party.
The move was widely seen as part of a battle
between Mr Mnangagwa and Mrs Mugabe, the first lady, over the presidential
succession when Mr Mugabe dies or steps down. The Zimbabwean president, who is
93, fights his last election next year. Many expected Mrs Mugabe to be
appointed vice president in Mr Mnangagwa’s place at the Zanu-PF special
congress next month.
Rumours were swirling this on Wednesday
morning that Mr Mugabe and his wife have been offered safe passage to
Singapore ,
but this could not be confirmed. China
said on Wednesday that Zimbabwe
military chief General Constantino Chiwenga's visit to China last week
was a normal military visit.
Gen Chiwenga, an ally of Mr Mnangagwa,
demanded on Monday that Mr Mugabe immediately cease “purging” the former vice
president's allies in the party and in government.
-The Telegraph
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