Mugabe under house arrest resists army pressure to quit

HARARE: President Robert Mugabe refused to immediately resign during talks on Thursday with generals who have taken control of Zimbabwe, a source close to the army leadership told AFP.

"They met today. He is refusing to step down. I think he is trying to buy time," said the source, who declined to be named. A political source who spoke to senior allies holed up with Mugabe and his wife, Grace, in his lavish "Blue Roof" Harare compound said Mugabe had no plans to resign voluntarily ahead of elections scheduled for next year.

"It’s a sort of stand-off, a stalemate," the source said. "They are insisting the president must finish his term. " The army’s takeover signalled the collapse in less than 36 hours of the security, intelligence and patronage networks that sustained Mugabe through 37 years in power and built him into the "Grand Old Man" of African politics. A priest mediating between Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in what they called a targeted operation against "criminals" in Mugabe’s entourage, has made little headway, a senior political source told Reuters.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for Mugabe’s departure "in the interest of the people". In a statement read to reporters, Tsvangirai pointedly referred to him as "Mr Robert Mugabe", not President.

The army appears to want Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, to go quietly and allow a smooth and bloodless transition to Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president Mugabe sacked last week triggering the political 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.

The last of Africa’s state founders from the heyday of the struggle against European colonisation still in power, Mugabe is still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero. But 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.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on Thursday for President Robert Mugabe to step down after the military took control of the country. "In the interest of the people of Zimbabwe, Mr Robert Mugabe must resign," Tsvangirai said, calling for a negotiated process to ease Zimbabwe through the transition of power.