U.S. wants ‘new era’ in Zimbabwe as Mugabe’s fate hangs in the balance

The United States (U.S.) is seeking ‘a new era’ for Zimbabwe, the State Department’s top official for Africa said, implicitly calling on long-time President Robert Mugabe to step aside as a political crisis mounts.
In an interview with Reuters, acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Donald Yamamoto, appeared to dismiss the idea of Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, remaining in a transitional or ceremonial role.
“It’s a transition to a new era for Zimbabwe, that’s really what we’re hoping for,” Yamamoto said.
Zimbabwe’s army seized power on Wednesday, in an apparent effort to prevent Mugabe, 93, from handing power to his wife.
He has not resigned or been formally deposed, however, and he was pictured on Thursday shaking hands with the military chief, Constantino Chiwenga.
Yamamoto, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with African Union officials at the State Department in Washington, described the situation in Zimbabwe as “very fluid.”
He said the U.S. would discuss lifting multiple U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe if it began enacting political and economic reforms.
In a message for Zimbabwe’s political leaders, he said: “Our position has always been that if they engage in the constitutional reforms, economic and political reforms, and move forward to protecting political space and the human rights, then we can start the dialogue on lifting sanctions.”
The U.S. has not given aid to Zimbabwe’s government for many years, but provides development aid to nongovernmental groups, particularly for healthcare.
“Now whether we give to the government, that depends on what happens in Zimbabwe.”
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due to meet on Friday in Washington with 37 African foreign ministers.
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s fate hung in the balance on Friday as he apparently resisted efforts to make him step down following a seizure of power by the army.
The military said on national television it was holding talks with Mugabe on the way forward and that it would advice the nation on their outcome as soon as possible.
The U.S., a longtime critic of Mugabe over allegations of human rights abuses and election rigging, is seeking “a new era” for Zimbabwe, the State Department’s top official for Africa said, an implicit call for the nonagenarian leader to quit.
The unfolding drama in the capital, Harare, was thrown into confusion when a smiling Mugabe was pictured shaking hands with Zimbabwe’s military chief, the man behind the coup, raising questions about whether or not the end of an era was near.
Mugabe unexpectedly drove on Thursday from his lavish “Blue Roof” compound, where he had been confined, to State House, where official media pictured him meeting military boss Constantino Chiwenga and South African mediators.
The official Herald newspaper carried no reports of the meeting’s outcome, leaving Zimbabwe’s 13 million people in the dark about the situation.
In an interview with Reuters, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto appeared to dismiss the idea of Mugabe remaining in a transitional or ceremonial role.
“It’s a transition to a new era for Zimbabwe, that’s really what we’re hoping for,” Yamamoto said.
The army may want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked on Nov. 6, triggering the crisis.
The main goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe from handing power to his wife, Grace, 41 years his junior, who has built a following among the ruling party’s youth wing and appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out.
Mugabe, who at 93 has appeared increasingly frail in public, is insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler and is refusing to quit.
Political sorces said pressure was mounting on the former guerrilla to accept offers of a graceful exit.
Zimbabwe’s former head of intelligence, Dumiso Dabengwa, was to hold a news conference in Johannesburg at 1200 GMT.
A South African government source said he expected Dabengwa, a close ally of the ousted Mnangagwa, to discuss the events in Zimbabwe.
“It seems there is some sort of agreement,” the source said.
The army’s takeover signaled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through almost four decades in power and built him into the “Grand Old Man” of African politics.
Mugabe is still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero.
He is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power pauperised one of Africa’s most promising states.
Once a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe saw its economy collapse after the seizure of white-owned farms in the early 2000s, followed by runaway money-printing that catapulted inflation to 500 billion per cent in 2008.
In a related development, leaders of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party are meeting on Friday to draft a resolution to dismiss Mugabe at the weekend, a senior party source said
The source said the leaders will lay the ground for his impeachment on Tuesday if Mugabe refused to stand down.
“There is no going back,” the source told Reuters. “If he becomes stubborn, we will arrange for him to be fired on Sunday. When that is done, it’s impeachment on Tuesday.”
Zimbabwe’s military said it was engaging Mugabe in talks on the way forward for the country and that it would advise the nation on the outcome as soon as possible.
The military added in a statement broadcast on Zimbabwean television that it had made “significant progress” in its operation targeting “criminals” around Mugabe.
On Thursday, Zimbabwe opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, urged Mugabe to resign in the interest of the country after the military seized power.
Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler and has balked at mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup, sources said on Thursday.
“In the interest of the people, Robert Mugabe must resign and step down immediately,” Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told a news conference, reading from a statement.
Earlier, the political opposition in Zimbabwe called for the intermediate installation of an interim government, a day after a surprise military takeover.
“At the moment the transitional government is the best way to go,” said Douglas Mwonzora, Secretary-General of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party.
“We back the military move but the country should quickly go back a constitutional government.”
Armoured vehicles that were stationed at key government buildings during the political upheaval on Wednesday remained in place.
The soldiers appeared relaxed, even smiling and chatting with onlookers.
Most people were going about their daily business and children went to school.
Special envoys sent by South African President, Jacob Zuma, were holding discussions on Mugabe’s fate with Zimbabwe’s leaders.
Officials from the Southern African Development Community were also meeting in Botswana’s capital Gaborone later Thursday to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe.
“What is needed is an inclusive government to run the affairs of Zimbabwe until a time it is right to have elections,” said Didymus Mutasa, a longtime minister in Mugabe’s government, who was fired in 2014 for backing Joice Mujuru as the president’s successor.
Jacob Mafume, a spokesman of the People’s Democratic Party led by Tendai Biti, said that any interim government “should be inclusive of all the stakeholders including the church and all parties.”
While the army has said Mugabe is safe, there were mixed reports in the media about his wife Grace Mugabe’s whereabouts, with some saying she had fled the country.
Speculation had been growing before the coup that 52-year-old Grace was preparing to take over from her husband.
The potential ascendency appears to have faced resistance from senior military officials.
There was an uneasy calm on the streets of Harare, after initial jubilation on Wednesday when the army announced it had seized control from Mugabe, 93, who had been in power almost four decades.
Several Mugabe allies from his Zanu-PF party, including Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo, detained, some political players have been swift to show the army they’re on side.
A grovelling apology by Zanu-PF youth leader, Kudzai Chipanga, who had criticised the army only hours before, was published by state media late Wednesday.
“We are still young and make mistakes,” Chipanga said, adding that he was making his apology voluntarily and had not been coerced.
“I have personally reflected and realised my mistake,” Chipanga added.