Car horns and wild cheers in Harare
Car horns blared and cheering crowds raced through the streets of the Zimbabwean capital Harare Tuesday as news spread that President Robert Mugabe, 93, had resigned after 37 years in power. "We are just so happy that things are finally going to change," Togo Ndhlalambi, 32, a hairdresser, told AFP. "We woke up every morning waiting for this day. This country has been through tough times." "We are just so happy that things are finally going to change," Togo Ndhlalambi, 32, a hairdresser, told AFP. Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe almost unopposed since the country won independence from Britain but his efforts to position his wife Grace as his successor triggered fury in the military that had underpinned his regime. His grip on power was shattered last week when the armoured military vehicles took to the streets, blockaded parliament and soldiers placed the president under house arrest in an operation that had all the hallmarks of a coup. But instead his generals stressed they were simply "arresting" criminals around Mugabe - a reference to supporters of Grace - and even allowed the one-time liberation hero to appear at a public function and deliver a TV speech stressing that he retained control. It is expected that he will eventually be replaced by former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been Grace Mugabe's chief rival to succeed her husband and whose dismissal earlier this month triggered the army takeover.
NAMPA/AFP
NAMPA/AFP
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