A Week of Desperation: Inside Mugabe’s Fight to Stay in Power
Neither the military or his political opponents could get him out
People remove the portrait of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, from the wall at the International Conference center, where parliament had their sitting, after his resignation on Nov. 21, 2017 in Harare.
Photographer: JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
It was 4 a.m. on Nov. 15 in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. After gunshots had shattered the quiet of the night many were alert.
Troops commanded by Constantino Chiwenga, the head of the armed forces, had rumbled into the city and quietly surrounded the main camps of the police, presidential guard and secret service. President Robert Mugabe was confined to the Blue Roof, his mansion on Harare’s outskirts. Some loyalists were arrested.