Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was fired by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe last week, will now lead the country, the interim government announced on Thursday.
“Comrade RG Mugabe will resign from the office of the presidency,” the post on Twitter read. Mnangagwa will take over as interim president from November 17.
The Twitter account, however, is not a verified one.
Zimbabwe’s defense forces on Tuesday took over the headquarters of state broadcaster ZBC, though it denied any attempt at a coup on Wednesday. The military said the operation was only meant to target criminals around President Mugabe. By Wednesday evening, the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, said the president and his family, though in detention, were safe.
The Army seems to have been triggered after Mnangagwa was fired last week, which made First Lady Grace Mugabe a front-runner to succeed her 93-year-old husband, BBC reported.
Mnangagwa, 71, played an integral role in Zimbabwe’s war of independence in the 1970s. He became the country’s spymaster during the civil conflict in the 1980s, in which thousands of civilians were killed, the BBC report said. He has denied any role in the massacres.
He will take over from President Mugabe, who has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Earlier on Thursday, the African Union had demanded that the crisis in the country be resolved in “accordance with the Constitution of Zimbabwe”.
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