HARARE: An aide to former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has revealed how generals warned him to step aside as protests against him grew, or face being “lynched” like Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi.
Massive street protests against 93-year-old Mugabe erupted after the military briefly took power in November following the veteran leader’s sacking of then-vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mugabe subsequently resigned after apparently striking a deal with the army and supporters of Mnangagwa who then succeeded Mugabe.
“The commanders sent us with a very chilling message, they said ‘please go and get the president to appreciate the gravity of the situation out there’,” Mugabe’s former spokesman, George Charamba, told the Daily News Sunday paper.
“There was the possibility of a Libyan scenario where the president would have been dragged out of the Blue roof and lynched,” he added, referring to Mugabe’s private residence in Harare.
Qaddafi was overthrown in 2011 after a violent popular uprising and slaughtered by a mob after he was found hiding in a drainage pipe.
Charamba, who now serves as Mnangagwa’s official spokesman, revealed that Mugabe desperately tried to reappoint his former deputy at the height of massive street protests against him. Charamba was heavily involved in the negotiations that eventually led to Mugabe stepping aside.
In his interview about the upheaval that shook the country at the end of last year, Charamba also described how Zimbabwean border guards attempted to shoot Mnangagwa as he sought to flee, fearing for his life.
“Mnangagwa recounted a scuffle at the Mozambican border where officials attempted to shoot him, but were disarmed by one of his twin sons,” the paper reported.
Mnangagwa has previously said that he feared an attempt would be made on his life after his personal protection officers were withdrawn following his sacking.
He subsequently made it to an airstrip where an acquaintance sent a private plane which carried him to South Africa from where he negotiated with Mugabe.
By the end of the crisis, even former first lady Grace Mugabe, whose ambition to succeed her husband was widely credited as a catalyst for the army’s intervention, wanted Mugabe to go.
“Even the first lady was behind Mugabe’s decision to resign,” said Charamba.
“When you have a president who can no longer command institutions he is supposed to lead, there is a problem. But what should be noted is that Mugabe never refused to step down, he wanted to do it in his own way.”
Zimbabwe army warned Mugabe faced being ‘lynched’: aide
Zimbabwe army warned Mugabe faced being ‘lynched’: aide
Anger as branch of ICE to help with security at Winter Olympics
ROME: A branch of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help with security for the Winter Olympics in Italy, it confirmed Tuesday, sparking anger and warnings they were not welcome.
Reports had been circulating for days that the agency embroiled in an often brutal immigration crackdown in the United States could be involved in US security measures for the February 6-22 Games in northern Italy.
In a statement overnight to AFP, ICE said: “At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations.
“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”
It’s not known whether the HSI has in the past been involved in the Olympics, or whether this is a first.
According to the ICE website, the HSI investigates global threats, investigating the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States.
ICE made clear its operations in Italy were separate from the immigration crackdown, which is being carried out by the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) department.
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” it said.
The protection of US citizens during Olympic Games overseas is led by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
Yet the outrage over ICE immigration operations in the United States is shared among many in Italy, following the deaths of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The leftist mayor of Milan, which is hosting several Olympic events, said ICE was “not welcome.”
“This is a militia that kills... It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it, Giuseppe Sala told RTL 102.5 radio.
“Can’t we just say no to (US President Donald) Trump for once?“
Alessandro Zan, a member of the European Parliament for the center-left Democratic Party, condemned it as “unacceptable.”
“In Italy, we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control,” he wrote on X.
Monitoring Vance
Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay any role, suggesting they would help only in security for the US delegation.
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.
On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, said their involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.
“It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,” Attilio Fontana told reporters.
However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any specific information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was quoted as saying late Monday that “ICE, as such, will never operate in Italy.”
The International Olympic Committee when contacted by AFP about the matter replied: “We kindly refer you to the USOPC (the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee).”
Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on illegal immigration.
Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis sparked outrage.
