Sherman Oaks, CA — President Robert Mugabe resigned Tuesday after almost a week on house arrest imposed by the military.
Mugabe, who’d been in power for 37 years submitted his resignation to the parliament. The speaker of the parliament read the letter aloud to a cheering crowd.
Lawmakers had just begun the impeachment process after Mugabe had refused to leave office following his expulsion from the ZANU-PF party.
In just weeks the 93-year-old president went from tyrant to almost overthrown.
The spark that ignited the fire was on November 6 when he dismissed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Many speculated this was a power move to give entry to his wife Grace Mugabe, who was a long time favorite of the ZANU-PF party.
A few days later he attempted to arrest the nations top military commander. The military overthrew his government and took power placing Mugabe on house arrest. By Sunday the ZANU-PF party had dismissed him as their leader and urged him to step down as president.
Mugabe held on to his power despite threats of impeachment and ignored the deadline set by his own party. Finally, after resigning on Tuesday, the ZANU-PF party voted the former vice president to be the new leader.
Mnangagwa will take over presidency until next year’s elections.
Monica Villacorta
Contributions by New York Times, NPR, Aljazeera
Images: Associated Press/Ben Curtis
Video: New York Times/Barbara Marcolini and Sarah Stein Kerr
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