{"id":2594,"date":"2017-11-18T04:35:36","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T04:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/?p=2594"},"modified":"2017-11-18T04:44:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T04:44:03","slug":"robert-mugabe-must-go-botswana-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/robert-mugabe-must-go-botswana-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Mugabe must go – Botswana President"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"RobertRobert Mugabe arrives to preside over a student graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University on the outskirts of Harare. Photograph: Ben Curtis\/AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Agency Report<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 18, 2017<\/strong>: \u00a0Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe should end his attempts to remain in office after the military seized power, as he has no regional diplomatic support to stay in power, Botswana President Ian Khama said on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The military intervention, which political sources say could pave the way to a national unity government after 37 years of Mugabe rule, also presented \u201can opportunity to put Zimbabwe on a path to peace and prosperity\u201d, Khama told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone should be president for that amount of time. We are presidents, we are not monarchs. It\u2019s just common sense,\u201d Khama said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Mr. Mugabe arrived at a university graduation ceremony in the capital on Friday, his first public appearance since a military seizure of power that political sources say is aimed at ending his 37 years in office. \u00a0Mr. Mugabe, who is 93, opened a graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University in Harare.<\/p>\n

He wore blue and yellow academic robes and a mortar board hat and appeared to fall asleep in his chair as his eyes closed and his head lolled. \u00a0Mr. Mugabe led the country\u2019s liberation struggle and has dominated its politics since independence in 1980.<\/p>\n

He said he is still in charge but a senior member of the ZANU-PF ruling party said it wanted him gone.\u00a0\u201cIf he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday,\u201d the source said. \u201cWhen that is done, it\u2019s impeachment on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In contrast, the military said in a statement on national television it was \u201cengaging\u201d with Mr. Mugabe. It referred to him as Commander in Chief and said it would announce an outcome as soon as possible.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mr. Mugabe is revered as an elder statesman and member of the generation of Africa\u2019s independence leaders but he is also viewed by many in Africa as a president who held his country back by remaining in power too long. \u00a0He calls himself the grand old man of African politics.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe\u2019s official newspaper, the Herald, ran photographs late on Thursday showing him grinning and shaking hands with military chief, Constantino Chiwenga, who seized power this week. \u00a0The images stunned Zimbabweans who thought it meant Mr. Mugabe was managing to hold out against Mr. Chiwenga\u2019s coup, with some political sources saying he was trying to delay his departure until elections scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n

The ZANU-PF source said that was not the case. Anxious to avoid a protracted stalemate, party leaders were drawing up plans to dismiss Mugabe at the weekend if he refused to quit, the source said. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cThere is no going back,\u201d the source told Reuters. \u201cIt\u2019s like a match delayed by heavy rain, with the home side leading 90-0 in the 89th minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

The army is camped on his doorstep. \u00a0His wife, Grace, is under house arrest, and her key political allies are in military custody.The police, once a bastion of support, have showed no signs of resistance. \u00a0Furthermore, he has little popular backing in the capital, a stronghold of support for opposition parties that have tapped into the anger and frustration at his handling of the economy, which collapsed after the seizure of white-owned farms in 2000.<\/p>\n

Unemployment is now running at nearly 90 per cent and chronic shortages of hard currency have triggered hyperinflation, with the prices of imports rising as much as 50 per cent a month. \u00a0The only words Mr. Mugabe spoke at the graduation ceremony were met with ululations from the crowd.<\/p>\n

In a telling irony, one of the graduates was the wife of Mr. Chiwenga. \u00a0The U.S., a longtime Mugabe critic, is seeking \u201ca new era\u201d, the State Department\u2019s top official for Africa said, an implicit call for Mr. Mugabe to quit.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Reuters, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto, appeared to dismiss the idea of keeping Mr. Mugabe in an interim or ceremonial role. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a transition to a new era for Zimbabwe, that\u2019s really what we\u2019re hoping for,\u201d Mr. Yamamoto said.<\/p>\n

The army appears to want Mr. Mugabe to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president, whose sacking last week triggered the military takeover.<\/p>\n

The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mr. Mugabe from handing power to his wife, Grace, who appeared on the cusp of power after Mr. Mnangagwa was pushed out.<\/p>\n

(Reuters\/NAN)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Mugabe arrives to preside over a student graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University on the outskirts of Harare. Photograph: Ben Curtis\/AP Agency Report November 18, 2017: \u00a0Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe should end his attempts to remain in office after the military seized power, as he has no regional diplomatic support to stay in power, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRobert Mugabe must go - Botswana President<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/robert-mugabe-must-go-botswana-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robert Mugabe must go - Botswana President\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Mugabe arrives to preside over a student graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University on the outskirts of Harare. 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