COUP SCARE: Zimbabwe on knife edge as UK Foreign Secretary says Britain doesn’t want another tyrant in power

There is palpable fear in the country as Zimbabwe is on the knife edge after the military confirmed that it had seized power.

However, it is not yet clear whether the apparent military coup will bring an end to the rule of Mugabe as sources say the main goal of the generals appeared to be preventing Mugabe’s wife Grace from succeeding him.

Reports say South Africa’s defence and state security ministers have been dispatched to Harare by President Jacob Zuma as regional envoys as he called for “calm and restraint” and asked the defence forces “to ensure that peace and stability are not undermined in Zimbabwe.”

Read also: ZIMBABWE: Military seizes power, says Mugabe is “safe and sound”

Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that Britain does not want to see one tyrant take over from another in Zimbabwe after the military seized power in Harare.

“Nobody wants simply to see the transition from one un-elected tyrant to a next. No one wants to see that. We want to see proper, free and fair elections,” Johnson told the British parliament.

Mugabe, still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa’s most promising states.

 

 

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