Zimbabwe coup

The Zimbabwean military staged a coup on Nov. 18, sending tanks and troops into the capital, Harare, where they took over government and media buildings and placed president Robert Mugabe and his allies into custody. The coup was peaceful and no one was killed, though the military was accused of abusing some arrested politicians. People demonstrated in favor of the military during the event.

President Mugabe was allowed to resign and was replaced by the former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had been fired and was forced to flee the country the week before. Mnangagwa had long been considered a strong candidate to replace the 93-year-old Mugabe but had recently fallen out of favor with the president in preference to Mugabe’s wife, Grace.

Robert Mugabe had been president of Zimbabwe since 1980, when the nation was created out of the former colony of Rhodesia. In the ensuing period, the country has seen increasing corruption and economic problems, including an inflation rate that reached 79,600,000,000% in 2008.