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Military outside Zimbabwe capital after army chief’s threat

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe was on edge Tuesday as armoured personnel carriers were seen outside the capital a day after the army commander threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over the president’s possible successor, and the ruling party accused the commander of “treasonable conduct.”
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HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe was on edge Tuesday as armoured personnel carriers were seen outside the capital a day after the army commander threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over the president’s possible successor, and the ruling party accused the commander of “treasonable conduct.”

The Associated Press saw three armoured personnel carriers with several soldiers in a convoy heading toward an army barracks just outside the capital, Harare. While military vehicle movement there is routine, the timing heightened unease in this southern African country that for the first time is seeing an open rift between the military and 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe. The military has been a key pillar of Mugabe’s power since independence from white minority rule in 1980.

Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, last week fired Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa and accused him of plotting to take power, including through witchcraft. Mnangagwa, who enjoyed the military’s backing and once was seen as a potential president, fled the country and said he had been threatened. Over 100 senior officials allegedly supporting him have been listed for disciplinary measures by a faction associated with Mugabe’s wife, Grace.

The first lady now appears positioned to replace Mnangagwa as one of the country’s two vice-presidents at a special conference of the ruling party in December, leading many in Zimbabwe to suspect that she could succeed her husband. Grace Mugabe is unpopular with some Zimbabweans because of lavish spending as many struggle, and four people accused of booing her at a recent rally were arrested.

On Monday, army commander Constantino Chiwenga issued an unprecedented statement saying purges against senior ruling ZANU-PF party officials, many of whom like Mnangagwa fought for liberation, should end “forthwith.”

“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” the army commander said. The state-run broadcaster did not report on his statement.

Showing a generational divide, the ruling party’s youth league, aligned with the 52-year-old first lady, on Tuesday criticized the army commander’s comments, saying youth were “ready to die for Mugabe.”

On Tuesday night the ruling party issued a statement accusing the army commander of “treasonable conduct,” saying his comments were “clearly calculated to disturb national peace and stability” and were “meant to incite insurrection.” It was not clear whether the commander still had his post.

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Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Zimbabwe’s Army Commander, Constantino Chiwenga addresses a press conference in Harare, Monday. The army commander Monday criticized the instability in the country’s ruling party caused by President Robert Mugabe who last week fired a vice president.