WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday that the people of Zimbabwe must be allowed to choose their own government through democratic elections, after the military took power.
"We all should work together for a quick return to a civilian rule in that country in accordance with their constitution," he said, ahead of talks with African foreign ministers. Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe made a defiant appearance at a university graduation, but power in Harare has clearly shifted into the hands of the army.
Washington was no friend of Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for the entire 37 years of its independence, but is also reluctant to defend what appears to most observers as a military coup.
The African Union, which has taken a strict line on some other recent military takeovers, has in this case left the matter in the hands of the South African-led SADC regional bloc. Reports from the region suggest South Africa was aware in advance of the Zimbabwe military’s plan, launched after 93-year-old Mugabe sacked vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Coincidentally, Tillerson was hosting a pre-planned meeting with three dozen African foreign ministers in Washington. The top US envoy, who said he plans to visit the continent early next year, urged his guests to see the crisis as a chance to push Zimbabwe into meaningful reform.
"Zimbabwe has an opportunity to set itself on a new path, one that must include democratic elections and respect for human rights," he told the ministers. "Ultimately, the people of Zimbabwe must choose their government," he insisted, calling on his guests to "discuss concrete ways that we can help them through this transition."
The ruling ZANU-PF party has called for a mass meeting in the capital on Saturday to show its support for the War Veterans group in their bid to remove Mugabe. Mugabe is revered as an elder statesman and independence leader but he is also viewed by many in Africa as a president who crippled his country by remaining in power too long.
He calls himself the grand old man of African politics. The army appears to want him to go quietly and allow a transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking last week as vice president triggered the takeover. A goal of the generals is to prevent Mugabe handing power to his wife, Grace, who appeared on the cusp of power after Mnangagwa was pushed out.
Zimbabwe’s official newspaper, the Herald, ran photographs late on Thursday showing Mugabe grinning and shaking hands with military chief General Constantino Chiwenga, who seized power this week.
The images stunned Zimbabweans who said it meant Mugabe was managing to hold out against Chiwenga’s coup. Some political sources said he was trying to delay his departure until elections scheduled for next year.
The ZANU-PF source said that was not the case. Anxious to avoid a protracted stalemate, party leaders were drawing up plans to dismiss Mugabe at the weekend if he refused to quit, the source said. "There is no going back," the source told Reuters.
"It’s like a match delayed by heavy rain, with the home side leading 90-0 in the 89th minute. " The army is camped on his doorstep. Grace Mugabe is under house arrest and her key political allies are in military custody.