Mugabe 'Flown To South Africa After Collapse'

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-28-2003 | Tim Butcher

[blam]

Mugabe 'flown to South Africa after collapse'

By Tim Butcher in Johannesburg
(Filed: 28/10/2003)

President Robert Mugabe collapsed yesterday and was flown to South Africa for emergency medical treatment, sources in Zimbabwe said last night.

President Mugabe

Supporters of Mr Mugabe, 79, were setting up barricades in the capital, Harare, manned by well-armed riot police.

It was reported that senior members of the "Green Bombers", the notorious youth brigades created by Mr Mugabe and responsible for rape, murder and political thuggery, were being flown to the city.

Any transition of power in Zimbabwe would probably be violent as Mr Mugabe's successors in the ruling Zanu-PF party would clash with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Sources in Zimbabwe said Mr Mugabe was taken ill late on Sunday and vomited throughout the night, then collapsed yesterday.

He was flown by military aircraft to the Waterkloof air base, a South African military airport near Pretoria, and driven to a clinic for treatment, they said.

If he been treated in Zimbabwe, news would have leaked out quickly, prompting popular unrest. By moving him to South Africa the situation can be better managed by his supporters until the extent of his health problems can be assessed.

Mr Mugabe's illness is expected to intensify jockeying in the Zanu-PF for the succession. The death last month of Vice-President, Simon Muzenda, 81, a staunch Mugabe supporter, has already sparked attempts by various factions in the party to secure the vice-presidency.

Supporters of the regime sought to play down the seriousness of Mr Mugabe's medical problems, saying he would be in Harare today for photographs with the state-run media.

Rumours of ill-health, strokes and death have been part of Mugabe's regime in recent years. After 23 years in power, he has appeared increasingly frail in recent months, although he has also shown remarkable stamina.

The presidential election last year was so flawed that the United States describes the regime as "democratically illegitimate" and Zimbabwe has been suspended from the Commonwealth. Targeted sanctions have been imposed on Mr Mugabe and his inner circle by the European Union and America.

Zimbabwe police yesterday charged the publisher and three other directors of the Daily News, an independent newspaper critical of Mugabe's government, with publishing without a licence, said its legal adviser. The Daily News returned to the newsstands at the weekend, six weeks after it was shut down by the authorities, after a court order for it to be given a licence by the end of next month. But police later closed the paper's offices, briefly detained 18 staff and on Sunday arrested Washington Sansole, a director.

[blam]

I hope he dies!

[blam]

Ping.

[AntiGuv]

Can't one of those Euro human rights crusaders charge him in absentia and demand extradition from South Africa???

Oh, wait. Mugabe's not American. Never mind......

[AngrySpud]

" I hope he dies! "

Soon!

[ServesURight]

Grim Reaper bump.

[MJY1288]

Ditto, The Devil is licking his chops in anticipation of this monsters arrival

[gov_bean_ counter]

I could see demons coming to take him home, ala "Ghost".

[Agnes Heep]

Sounds to me as if he may have been poisoned. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Death will be the only way he leaves power. It is about to get bloody. Well, bloodier.

[Ronin]

Sounds like someone "spiced" his soup a bit too much.

He he he he he...

[tet68]

I'd say poisoned.

[gov_bean_ counter]

He didn't have a food tester?

[Vigilantcitizen]

"I hope he dies!"

Die hell...I want it to be a painful, lingering, "see you in hell" kind of death. And if Arafag went right along with this tyrant, I'd probably get college frat boy drunk in celebratory jubilation.

[GeronL]

If he dies, he ain't going to heaven.

The brutal regime has left no support structure in place for civil society. The thugs will riot and loot the entire country unless the opposition can some hoe stop them.

[lawdude]

Awwwwwwwww. Tuffghi shitsky.

[quebecois]

How much do you want to bet that the doctors taking care of him in SA are evil white "settlers"? As a physician, I am dedicated to healing the sick...but I'd have to think long and hard before I'd lift a finger to help this piece of debris.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Oh HELL YEAH! Let's hope for an extremely slow and painful death for this animal.

With luck this will bring the Zanu-PFTTTT party to ruin and Rhodesia can rebuild once more, then mabye Mugabe's cronies will find themselves doing the gibbet samba.

[CGTRWK]

I expect a similar headline when Zimbabwe officially collapses. That can't be far off.

[tet68]

There are ways around that.
Any way one can hope.
The problem for the opposition is that they are basically unarmed.