After 37 years, rule of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe appears to be over

[AUDub 10,144]

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Army has Mugabe and his wife Grace in custody, but denies this is a military takeover

Zimbabwe's military controls the capital Harare and the state broadcaster and is holding President Robert Mugabe, 93, and his wife under house arrest. It appears that the world's oldest head of state has been deposed by a coup.

The military is at pains, however, to say it didn't stage a military takeover, instead starting a process to restore Zimbabwe's democracy.

After 37 years, the military seems to have brought an end to Mugabe's long reign in what the army's supporters praised as a "bloodless correction." South Africa and other neighbouring countries are sending in leaders to negotiate with Mugabe and the generals to encourage the transition.

Citizens in Zimbabwe's tidy capital, Harare, contributed to the feeling of a smooth change by carrying on with their daily lives, walking past the army's armoured personnel carriers to go to work and to shops.

Many who have never known any leader but Mugabe waited in long lines at banks to draw limited amounts of cash, a result of this once-prosperous country's plummeting economy.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/zimbabwe-military-control-mugabe-1.4402771

[homersapien 10,149]

Great news if they can impliment something closer to a democracy!

Interestingly, I know a couple who owns a coffee plantation in Zimbabwe. They reside here where they import the beans and roast and market the coffee. (The wife is an American.)  Anyway, their efforts support several families who have lived and worked the farm for generations. 

Their fear has always been that Mugabe will confiscate their land - as he has with other many white landowners - and give it to his relatives who would quickly ruin the operation, putting those families out of work.