Zimbabwe's army seizes power from Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe on a knife edge?? Zimbabwe's military have finally seized control of the southern African nation, placing longtime leader Robert Mugabe under house arrest and deploying armored vehicles to the streets of the capital, Harare.

According to the military, who reportedly stationed at Zimbabwe's Parliament and the presidential palace, the operation is against "criminals" in the entourage of the 93-year-old president who has ruled the country for almost four decades. 

It is believed that the apparent military coup would bring a formal end to Mugabe's rule but many thinks that the main goal of the military appeared to be preventing Mugabe's wife Grace, from succeeding him.

There were indications the military was rounding up political allies of Mrs Mugabe within the ruling Zanu-PF, a group of younger cadres who sided against Mr Mnangagwa and his fellow liberation-era bloc in the bitter succession battle. Among those close to Mrs Mugabe who were arrested, according to people in Harare familiar with the military’s actions, were Ignatius Chombo, the finance minister, and Kudzai Chipanga, head of Zanu-PF’s youth league, who had issued a statement attacking Gen Chiwenga on Tuesday.

According to a statement by South African president, Jacob Zuma on Wednesday, Mugabe, who also stands as the world's oldest living leader, was unable to leave his home.

Meanwhile, regional leaders are to hold a crisis meeting to discuss a response to Zimbabwe’s military takeover as soldiers continued to round up allies of Robert Mugabe.

Also, member states of the Southern African Development Community, which has called on the Zimbabwean army to avoid an “unconstitutional” change in government and urged “calm and restraint”, will convene in Botswana on Thursday. The meeting was called by Jacob Zuma, the chair of SADC and president of South Africa, which has long worried about instability in Zimbabwe spilling over into its borders. 

Robert Mugabe and his family safe while targeting “criminals” in the entourage of the man who has ruled the nation since independence 37 years ago.

Mugabe, who is seen by many Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa's most promising states.

Mugabe plunged Zimbabwe into a fresh political crisis last week by firing his vice president and presumed successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75 - known as the "crocodile" - for showing "traits of disloyalty".

The generals believed that move was aimed at clearing a path for Grace Mugabe to take over and said on Monday they were prepared to "step in" if purges of their allies did not end.

Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-in-a-generation change for the former British colony, a regional breadbasket reduced to destitution by economic policies Mugabe's critics have long blamed on him.