Mugabe allies turn their backs as pressure mounts on him to step down

The end seems near for embattled Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe after the military seized power in an apparent coup even as allies of the long serving African leader are beginning to turn their backs on him.

Reports say defiant Mugabe, 93, who is refusing to step down from power is increasingly running out of options with some of his closest allies, including top officials within his ruling ZANU-PF party determined to remove him from power.

Also issuing a “stark warning”, Zimbabwe’s influential war veterans on Friday said Mugabe, the patron of their 35,000-strong association, should not be allowed to stay any longer in power, thereby pilling more pressure on him to step down.

“If he doesn’t leave, we are going to settle the score,” Chris Mutsvangwa, the war veterans’ leader, told a press conference in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.

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

“There is no going back about Mugabe – he must leave,” added Mutsvangwa.

According to reports, the independence war fighters’ association have also called for a mass rally in Harare on Saturday, urging residents to march to State House in large numbers to demand Mugabe’s resignation.

Two days ago, the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai also called on Mugabe to step down from power in the interest of the country after the military seized power.

Reading from a statement at a news conference, Tsvangirai said; “In the interest of the people, Mr. Robert Mugabe must resign and step down immediately”.

 

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