NAMPA / Reuters story from News on 2017-11-14 14:23:27
UPDATE 1-Tanks seen heading towards Zimbabwe capital - witnesses
(Adds background)
HARARE, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Four tanks were seen heading
towards the Zimbabwe capital Harare on Tuesday, witnesses said,
a day after the head of the armed forces said he was prepared to
"step in" to end a purge of supporters of ousted vice-president
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
A Reuters witness saw two other tanks parked beside the main
road from Harare to Chinhoyi, about 20 km (14 miles) from the
city. One, which was pointed in the direction of the capital,
had come off its tracks. Soldiers at the scene refused to talk
to Reuters.
Earlier on Tuesday the youth wing of Zimbabwe's ruling party
accused the military chief of subverting the constitution for
threatening to intervene after President Robert Mugabe plunged
the country into crisis by sacking Mnangagwa last week.
Mnangagwa, 75, a long-serving veteran of Zimbabwe's 1970s
liberation wars, had been viewed as a likely successor to Mugabe
before the president fired him on Nov. 6.
His downfall appeared to pave the way for Mugabe's wife
Grace to succeed the 93-year-old president, the only leader
Zimbabwe has known in 37 years of independence.
In an unprecedented step, the head of the armed forces,
Constantino Chiwenga, openly threatened to intervene in politics
on Monday if the purge of war veterans did not stop.
"We must remind those behind the current treacherous
shenanigans that, when it comes to matters of protecting our
revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in," Chiwenga
said in a statement read to reporters at a news conference
packed with top brass on Monday.
Grace Mugabe, 52, has developed a strong following in the
powerful youth wing of the ruling ZANU-PF party. Her rise has
brought her into conflict with the independence-era war
veterans, who once enjoyed a privileged role in the ruling party
under Mugabe, but who have increasingly been banished from
senior government and party roles in recent years.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Ed Cropley;
Editing by Peter Graff)
