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Mugabe 'Flown To South Africa After Collapse'
The Telegraph (UK) ^
| 10-28-2003
| Tim Butcher
Posted on 10/27/2003 6:11:00 PM PST by 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.
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; africawatch; byemugs; collapse; flown; mugabe; sayhitonkomo4us; seeyouinseptember; slimdisease; south; southafrica; turass; zimbabwe
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To: blam
of course he should die, we would all hope that he gets his just rewards in a very very hot place. But if he dies the thugs will go on a looting rampage.
Liberalism is a quagmire
21
posted on
10/27/2003 6:42:51 PM PST
by
GeronL
(Please visit www.geocities.com/geronl)
To: Cincinatus' Wife; sarcasm; Travis McGee; happygrl; Byron_the_Aussie; robnoel
BUMP
22
posted on
10/27/2003 6:45:06 PM PST
by
GeronL
(Please visit www.geocities.com/geronl)
To: blam
Deathwatch BTT. I am not fond of what this wretch has done to one of the most beautiful countries in Africa. It was so unnecessary.
To: CGTRWK
The killing will really start if this guy's supporters think that they would lose power. Bread prices would go to $100 a loaf on the black-market overnight. And even if his powerbase of overthrown, it would take ten years to undo the harm that has been done to the farmland already. Here is another fine mess the UN has allowed to happen.
Old Patriot
To: blam
Right on! Let's hope he stops drawing breath soon.
25
posted on
10/27/2003 7:01:45 PM PST
by
xrp
To: old patriot
Bring Back Colonialism.
That is only semblance of law and order the Dark Continent has ever known.
Comment #27 Removed by Moderator
To: FoxFang
Well actually, I was being facetious.
Africa is a lost cause. The richest continent in natural resources, and not ONE functioning 21st century society.
To: AngrySpud
"" I hope he dies! " .....Soon! That is very wrong headed of you to say....
The bastard should live a long and miserable live in pain and in prison -- as the "girlfriend" of some burly 300 pound Nigerian with the clap.....
Semper Fi
29
posted on
10/27/2003 7:32:41 PM PST
by
river rat
(War works......It brings Peace... Give war a chance to destroy Jihadists...)
To: river rat
Can't wait to have a new black dictator on the glorious continent of Africa.
To: blam
Someone decided to poison him. I doubt that he just collapsed.
31
posted on
10/27/2003 8:15:32 PM PST
by
.cnI redruM
(I ain't sayin' nothin', but that ain't right! - Stewart Scott, ESPN.)
To: blam
Someone decided to poison him. I doubt that he just collapsed.
32
posted on
10/27/2003 8:15:33 PM PST
by
.cnI redruM
(I ain't sayin' nothin', but that ain't right! - Stewart Scott, ESPN.)
To: blam
Someone decided to poison him. I doubt that he just collapsed.
33
posted on
10/27/2003 8:15:48 PM PST
by
.cnI redruM
(I ain't sayin' nothin', but that ain't right! - Stewart Scott, ESPN.)
To: blam
You said it better than anyone else could. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans agree with you. Here's hoping the death of this evil bastard is the start of things turning around in that beautiful country.
34
posted on
10/27/2003 8:27:12 PM PST
by
speedy
To: blam
What, you Mean the People's Socialist Paradise of Zimbabwe doesn't have a top-notch medical system so that they have to fly their Cannibal King to another formerly-white-ruled country?
35
posted on
10/27/2003 8:27:39 PM PST
by
PLMerite
("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
To: Agnes Heep
Doubt it. I think he had a stroke. Strokes are sometimes preceded by vomiting episodes.
WHATEVER, I hope that the "Hitler of Zimbabwe" (see his mustachio) goes to meet his maker (In a bit of irony, I can envision satan making him Hitler's slave ;0) That would be called "poetic justice".
To: blam
Is there some way he could marry Michael Schiavo?
To: MJY1288
Ditto, The Devil is licking his chops in anticipation of this monsters arrival As the late Rod Roddy would say "Robert (Beast) Mugabe, come on down"!
38
posted on
10/27/2003 9:05:26 PM PST
by
Mike Darancette
(No Taxation Without Respiration - Repeal Death Taxes!)
To: dagnabbit
Maybe he and Michael Schiavo could be bedmates a la Satan and Saddamy from South Park.
39
posted on
10/27/2003 9:08:29 PM PST
by
cyborg
(Kyk nou, die ding wat jy soek issie hierie sienj)
To: blam
I hope he dies! I hope it's painful.
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