AU commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said he “welcomes the decision by President Robert Mugabe to step down from his position as Head of State following a lifetime of service to the Zimbabwean nation.”“President Mugabe will be remembered as a fearless pan-Africanist liberation fighter, and the father of the independent Zimbabwean nation,” he said in a statement released late Tuesday. Mugabe is likely to be replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, whom he fired as his deputy earlier this month in a move that pushed infuriated army chiefs to seize power and force the president’s exit. Despite the military intervention, the AU did not characterise Mugabe’s ouster as a coup, but rather a legitimate expression of the will of Zimbabweans. “The African Union recognises that the Zimbabwean people have expressed their will that there should be a peaceful transfer of power in a manner that secures the democratic future of their country,” the statement said. “President Mugabe’s decision to resign paves the way for a transition process, owned and led by the sovereign people of Zimbabwe”.

Source: The Guardian November 22, 2017 08:03 UTC