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Dozens of police blocked off the site of the opposition rally for electoral reforms by 2018, when 92-year-old Mugabe who has ruled the southern African country for decades will seek re-election. The protesters responded to the clampdown by throwing stones at the police while some set tyres ablaze and others pulled down the sign for a street named after Mugabe. "They are burning types in the streets in order to get into power. They are thinking that what happened in the Arab Spring is going to happen in this country, but we tell them that is not going to happen here," said Mugabe in remarks broadcast by state television. "What politics is that when you burn tyres? We want peace in the country," said Mugabe accusing foreign powers of having a hand in the unrest.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe accused foreign powers of having a hand in the unrest which saw opposition supporters clash with police in Harare
AFP correspondents saw armed police firing tear gas and water cannon at protesters gathered on the fringes of the central business district who were waiting for the march to start. Some people caught up in the melee, including children going to a nearby agricultural show, ran for shelter in the magistrate's court while riot police pursued the protesters and threatened journalists covering the rally.
Street vendors flee with their goods as Zimbabwe opposition supporters clash with police in Harare
The usually-bustling pavements were clear of street hawkers and some shops were shut, as rocks, sticks and burning tyres were strewn across the streets. Opposition protesters also clashed with supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party who had refused to clear their street stalls. ZANU-PF youths hurled stones at the opposition activists but were overpowered and their stalls set on fire.
- 'Very deep anger' -
"It is true that I was dead," the world's oldest head of state said. "And I resurrected. As I always do." "Are we speaking to a ghost?" someone asked him. "Once I get back to my country, I am real," Mugabe said. The president had not been seen since leaving a regional summit early on Tuesday. Flight data showed his plane went to Dubai after the original flight path indicated a course toward Asia. Mugabe has received treatment in Singapore in the past.
Rioters battle with Zimbabwean police in Harare, Monday, July, 4, 2016.Police in Zimbabwe's capital fired tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to quell rioting by taxi and mini bus drivers protesting what they describe as police harassment.The violence came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of economic hardships and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe.
His spokesman had denied reports that Mugabe, the target of near-daily protests in recent weeks, was ill. The president told people Saturday he had been away attending to family matters. He later addressed a youth meeting at his ruling party's headquarters. His absence had raised the level of uncertainly in this southern African country already in economic and political turmoil. Frustration has been rising in Zimbabwe over a plummeting economy and allegations of government corruption.
Police on Thursday banned protests in the capital for two weeks, on the eve of a demonstration planned by a newly formed coalition of opposition groups. Mugabe has been in power since 1980, and many in Zimbabwe have known no other leader in their lifetime. He has said he would run again in elections in 2018. Recently, his wife, Grace, said Mugabe would rule from the grave.
'Yes, I was dead:' Zimbabwe's Mugabe back after disappearing
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has criticised judges who give permission for anti-government protests which later turn violent. He said the judges showed a reckless disregard for peace, and warned that they should not dare to be negligent when making decisions. The opposition has accused him of trying to intimidate the judiciary. On Monday, opposition supporters are going to court to challenge a two-week ban on demonstrations. There have been a number of violent protests in Zimbabwe in recent weeks as the country's economic crisis deepens.
The president recently warned protesters there would be no Zimbabwean uprising similar to the "Arab Spring". He has routinely blamed the country's economic problems on sabotage by Western critics of his policies - which include the seizure of white-owned commercial farms for black people. The opposition says the latest demonstration ban is unconstitutional and has approached the High Court to challenge it. Mr Mugabe was reported to have told a conference of the governing Zanu-PF's youth wing on Saturday that "enough is enough" and he would not permit violent protests to carry on.
Members of the main opposition parties protest outside the Harare Magistrates Courts
The latest bout of violence began more than a week ago when tear gas and water cannon were used by police to stop protesters. "Our courts, our justice system, our judges should be the ones who understand even better than ordinary citizens. They dare not be negligent in their decisions when requests are made by people who want to demonstrate," the Sunday News quoted Mr Mugabe as saying.
The president said there was violence each time the court had allowed the protests to go ahead. Police routinely blame a lack of manpower and the security threat as reasons for barring opposition protests, but their arguments have often been overturned by the High Court. Mr Mugabe, 92, recently arrived back in Zimbabwe from abroad amid rumours about his state of health, joking at the main airport in Harare that he had died and been resurrected.
Robert Mugabe lambasts Zimbabwe judges over protests - BBC News
The country's human rights commission said opponents of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party had been told they would never get any food aid. The government has not yet commented. Mr Mugabe declared a state of disaster in February, with the government estimating that four million people would need food aid by January 2017. "Ruling party members were the major perpetrators in violations linked to distribution of food," Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) chairman Elasto Mugwadi told media in the capital, Harare, detailing the findings of the investigation.
Farmer inspects his dry land
Mr Mugwadi said huge numbers of people had been affected by the alleged tactic, without giving exact figures. The government says half the rural population faces starvation. The allegations, coming from a constitutionally established body, are especially significant given the role food distribution plays in election campaigns in the country, says BBC Zimbabwe analyst Stanley Kwenda.
Elections can be won and lost on the basis of how food aid is distributed, he adds. Zimbabwe has endured two years of failed rains, with this year's problems linked to the El Nino weather pattern. Elections are due to take place in 2018.
Mugabe's Zanu-PF 'blocking food aid' amid Zimbabwe drought - BBC News
That last statement might be true, given the lack of a strong opposition figure in Zimbabwe. However, the president's age means that sooner rather than later, Zimbabweans will have to choose another leader, and the succession battle in the ruling ZANU-PF party has heated up. There are two camps that are openly vying for the presidency: Generation 40, or G40, and Team Lacoste. Generation 40 — which refers to the party's young members — is allied to the president's wife, Grace Mugabe, while Team Lacoste backs Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, center left, and his wife Grace, center are joined by his family as they cut the cake during his 93rd Birthday celebrations in Matopos on the outskirts of Bulawayo
Lacoste is a reference to the clothing company that uses a crocodile as its logo. Mnangagwa was nicknamed "the crocodile" for his alleged role in planning the Gukurahundi massacres of the early 1980s, in which 20,000 opposition supporters were killed. President Mugabe has acknowledged the existence of the two rival camps and their feuding, and has ordered them to "stop it." But in his 93rd birthday interview, the Zimbabwean leader spoke glowingly of his wife, describing her as "well-seasoned," of "very strong character," and "very much accepted by the people."
That Grace Mugabe has the president's favor is also evidenced by the fate of anyone she identifies as a threat to the president. Joice Mujuru was deposed as vice president in 2014 after the first lady accused her of wanting to overthrow Mugabe.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, look on during the Defense Force's 36th Anniversary celebrations in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe
More recently, Mnangagwa and his supporters have been a target of the first lady's wrath. "We have seen people wearing T-shirts with Zimbabwean flags labeled Lacoste, and when we asked them, they said Lacoste is a perfume. We are not fools. Do not take us for fools," she said. "They will not take over from Mugabe. I will rather put him in a wheelbarrow to work because we have realized that those we thought were being groomed as leaders are sell-outs."
Who is Grace Mugabe?
Thousands of government supporters, some wearing clothing adorned with Mugabe’s image, converged in Matabeleland on Saturday for a birthday bash and show of strength for the ruling ZANU-PF party, beset by squabbling in the past year as the elderly president weakened and factions, one including his wife Grace, sparred ahead of an expected power vacuum.
In power since 1980
Mugabe, a former rebel leader who took power after independence from white minority rule in 1980, declared a few days ago that most Zimbabweans think nobody can replace him. The longevity of the world’s oldest head of state is a source of heartache for Zimbabwe’s splintered opposition and uncertainty for investors, leaving the economically struggling country in limbo. Zimbabwe’s challenges include a strike by doctors over working conditions that has forced army and police doctors to deploy in public hospitals. Conditions at hospitals were already deteriorating because of poor staffing and low supplies of medicine. The government has endured other crises, rejecting decades of opposition and Western allegations about human rights violations, voting irregularities and economic mismanagement.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe cuts his birthday cake as he marks his 93rd birthday at his offices in Harare, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Mugabe described his wife Grace, an increasingly political figure, as "fireworks" in an interview
Mugabe, who turned 93 Tuesday, has been serenaded at a palace cake-cutting by singers who wished him “many more” birthdays. Air Zimbabwe, the cash-strapped national carrier, and other entities took out birthday notices in pro-government media. Dancers and musicians performed ahead of Saturday’s party at a school in Matopo Hills, on the outskirts of Bulawayo city with caves and rock art dating back thousands of years.
Enemies lay nearby
The region, whose mystical-looking rock formations have been the setting for religious ceremonies, is also associated with the often violent fissures of pre- and post-colonial Africa. British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes is buried there. It is also the site of mass graves of some of the thousands of Ndebele people killed in the 1980s by a North Korea-trained military unit loyal to Mugabe, a member of the rival Shona ethnic group. The memory of that episode prompted some anti-government activists to denounce the selection of Matopo Hills for Mugabe’s birthday party, though ruling party figures said it will promote tourism in the area.
Mugabe’s state security minister at the time of the killings, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is now a vice president and possible successor. Mnangagwa is also sticking to the official script that Mugabe is the only option for now, denouncing any “mad young people” in the ZANU-PF party who want him to oust Mugabe. Such dissenters, some born after independence in 1980, should be expelled from a party with “a liberation struggle history,” he said, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.The ruling party, Mnangagwa said, “will rule forever” and will vote for Mugabe in next year’s elections.
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Turns 93 With No Plans to Step Down
