Somali president signs anti-corruption law

Yahoo – AFP, September 21, 2019

Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed came into office in 2017 vowing
to combat corruption which permeates evert aspect of life (AFP Photo/Michele Spatari)

Mogadishu (AFP) - Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Saturday signed an anti-graft bill into law, a long-awaited piece of legislation in one of the world's most corrupt nations.

The president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, came into office in 2017 vowing to combat the scourge which permeates evert aspect of life.

The new law will pave the way for the formation of independent anti-corruption commissions both on the federal and regional level, according to a statement from the president's office.

"Corruption is worse than cancer because cancer kills only the individual, but corruption kills the whole society. I hope those who will be selected to be members of the committees will be decent, religious and patriotic," the president said in a statement released Saturday after the signature.

In 2018, Somalia fell in last place in Transparency International's perception of corruption index, and graft has hampered efforts to rebuild the nation after decades of chaos including civil war and an Islamist insurgency.

Farmajo's government is keen to improve its image and win the confidence of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in a bid to secure formal debt relief.

"Good governance is the responsibility of the government and we are mandated to improve the different levels of the government. It is true that all cannot be corrected at once since the country was in chaos for so long, and that chaos created bad cultures in our society."

Tunisia's ex-president Ben Ali dies in exile

Yahoo – AFP, Kaouther LARBI, September 19, 2019

Former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is survived by his wife
Leila Trabelsi and six children (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)

Tunis (AFP) - Former Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the first leader to be toppled by the Arab Spring revolts, died Thursday in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia's foreign ministry told AFP. He was 83.

"We had confirmation of his death 30 minutes ago," the ministry said on Thursday afternoon without giving further details.

His lawyer, Mounir Ben Salha, confirmed the news, citing family members and Ben Ali's doctor.

Ben Ali, who ruled his North African country from 1987 until 2011, was viewed by some as a bulwark against Islamist extremism, but faced criticism for muzzling the opposition and his reluctance to embrace democracy.

Eventually, growing frustration over unemployment and high prices snapped.

In late 2010, a young trader in Sidi Bouzid, in the impoverished centre of the country, set fire to himself in protest at humiliation by police.

The demonstrations of early 2011 brought soldiers onto the streets before
Ben Ali resigned on January 14 (AFP Photo/FETHI BELAID)

That sparked protests which rocked Tunisia and triggered a deadly clampdown.

But the protesters won: on January 14, 2011, Ben Ali fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia.

His rapid departure sparked a string of similar uprisings across the region, toppling Egyptian and Libyan strongmen Hosni Mubarak and Moamer Kadhafi.

The turmoil also triggered what was to become Syria's devastating eight-year war.

Pyjamas in exile

In mid-2012, Ben Ali was sentenced in absentia to life in jail for his role in the deaths of protesters during the uprising.

More than 300 people were killed in the initial repression of the protest movement.

Little verified information has emerged on Ben Ali's life in exile.

A Tunisian family watches TV on January 13, 2011 as Zine El-Abidine
Ben Ali resigns as president (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)

Photos posted on Instagram in 2013 showed the former strongman smiling in striped pyjamas.

Rumours of his death had circulated several times in recent years.

A week ago, Ben Salha said the former president was in a "critical condition", before denying reports that he had died.

"He is not dead, but his state of health is bad. He has left hospital and is currently being cared for at his home -- his condition is stabilising", the lawyer said at the time.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said last week that on humanitarian grounds Ben Ali could return to die in his own country -- "like every Tunisian" -- should he wish to do so.

It was not possible to ascertain immediately whether the former president's funeral would take place in Saudi Arabia or in Tunisia.

In this file photo taken on New Year's day 1986, former Tunisian President Habib 

Ben Ali Bourguiba (R) shakes hands with his then prime minister Zine El-Abidine 

Ben Ali, who went on to replace him the following year (AFP Photo)

'Part of Tunisia's history'

Tunisians canvassed by AFP on Thursday did not oppose a funeral in Tunisia.

"He deserves to be buried in his own country. It can't do any harm," said Moncef Balghaji in central Tunis.

"He is dead! This person was president and he was a part of Tunisia's history", he added.

Another resident, Mounir -- who did not want to give his surname -- said "I do not see him as a president, but as a Tunisian citizen... He has the right to buried here, regardless of what he did."

Ben Ali is survived by six children; three daughters by a first marriage and two daughters and a son by his wife Leila Trabelsi, who accompanied him into exile.

A career soldier, Ben Ali took power on November 7, 1987 when he toppled Habib Bourguiba, the ailing father of Tunisian independence who was by then reported to be senile.

A member of the Tunisian security forces takes aim towards a demonstrator who

 prepares to throw a rock towards them during clashes in January 2011 near

Sidi Bouzid (AFP Photo/STR)

Tunisians, including Islamists, hailed his bloodless, non-violent takeover.

He went on to make Tunisia a moderate, secular voice in the Arab world while Western governments viewed him as an effective bulwark against extremism -- despite criticism of his reluctance to embrace democracy.

Aside from his conviction over the death of protesters, Ben Ali was also sentenced in absentia to misappropriating public funds and ordering the torture of army officers who allegedly led a coup attempt against him.

Tunisia on Sunday held a presidential election, in which two outsiders -- law professor Kais Saied and detained media mogul Nabil Karoui -- made it through to a second round run-off.

The country's first post Arab Spring democratically elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, had died in July aged 92, bringing the first round of the presidential polls forward by several months.

With the burial in Saudi exile of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia is turning the page on more than two decades of nepotism and repression with a large dose of indifference https://t.co/wToi3G7Br3

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 21 september 2019

Related Article:

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“.. A New Social System

There is a new kind of social system, a new way of communicating where everyone can talk to everyone all at once. Millions can do this, without borders or culture clash. Take a look at Egypt. It confounded all of those who sit in the power seats not far from here [Washington, D.C.]. The old energy thinking is afraid because there's a vacuum with no emerging leader. You see, everybody knows there has to be leadership, there has to be hierarchy. There has to be all of these things in order to create a revolution. Well, let me tell you, that's old, old thinking. Because you just saw revolution of consciousness without leadership, without hierarchy, without any one person whipping the others into a frenzy to convince them of anything. It just happened together, almost like there is a wave of consciousness that is spreading over the earth. There is. When everyone can talk to everyone, this is what you get. Dictators know this, so the first thing they wish to shut down are the new communications tools.

I want to go further than that. Let's get personal and interview a Syrian or a Libyan. Let's talk to an Egyptian for a moment. Let's find the man on the street and ask him some questions. I'll give you the question. "What do you want?" Here's what they're going to tell you. "We want to choose what we do in our own land. We want the glory of our culture back. We want abundance in our homes and towns. We want schools. We want to have some of the things the rest of the world has. We want to take some of the things that our country has in abundance and share it with the citizens. We want our grandchildren safe. We want good hospitals." That's what they're going to tell you.

So why do I tell you this? Because nowhere in their rhetoric is, "And we want to kill the Jews!" Because they're smarter than that, and they're becoming conceptual and beginning to understand this premise: War is hell. It leads to sorrow, death, destruction and heartbreak. It creates poverty and famine - and they know it. They're looking at Europe. They're looking around and they're starting to see unification being an answer to that which is what they want for their children. They don't want war. They don't want war! They may not like the Jews, but they now understand that in order to really have what they want, they must work with them.

So the uprisings you are seeing, dear ones, are not what you think, or what you are being told. Don't worry, thinking, "This is the beginning of the end." Oh, it's going to have a seesaw of energy; it's going to have fear. It will even have those terrorist leaders who want to control it. You're going to be told this and that, but in the end, in a decade, when you can go there and take a look, you're going to have states that are at peace with Israel. One of the most controversial things we have told you is this: Peace in the Middle East is not going to come from anything Israel does. It's going to come from that which the Islamic states do. The young people there don't want a war. Now, all you have to do is convince the Jews of this so that they don't create one of their own. Do you understand the sense of this? Higher consciousness and conceptual thinking brings about revolution that is not replaced by another dictator. The dictators are falling. Human Beings in these third-world areas want to raise their families the way you do - in peace and safety and stability.

The Evidence is Everywhere

What has happened in the last 50 years? Go to South America with me. How many dictators were there then and how many are there now? There is one left and his days are numbered. Watch him, for he'll want to ally with other dictators and there won't be any! A controlled economy will absolutely fail. His is starting not to work.

These dictators are falling because they represent an old energy paradigm, an old Human nature. A new consciousness is taking over. Look at the big picture. Get out of fear and understand again that time is slow to you and these things are generational, not seasonal! There will be battles won and lost for high consciousness. There will be one country that may even seem to go backwards a little before they go forward. This is the way time works and consciousness works. Here is the prediction we've given you: You're beginning to see the seeds of peace in the Middle East. Not in the news, but in the new social areas with young people. And when it settles, the biggest issue will still be the Palestinians. But perhaps for the first time, their Islamic brothers in countries around them will begin to include them instead of not including them as they are now. Watch for a compassion of brotherhood - not for war, but for eventual peace and stability.

And yes, there'll be those who tell you just the opposite, dear one. This is what we see. Turn on your news and you are seeing it. But you see it graphically, do you not? And you see the sorrow and the death, for that is the most dramatic. Just think of those who have come into this planet to give their lives and sacrifice for something grand - peace in their own land. It's just what you did to create this United States. You had to fight your way through it, didn't you? It seems like an old paradigm that sometimes you have to involve the bridge of swords between old and new. But sometimes you just do to slog through a Human nature which has been a certain way for thousands of years.  …”

ICC prosecutor appeals acquittal of I.Coast's Gbagbo

Yahoo – AFP, September 16, 2019

Gbagbo faced charges of crimes against humanity over the 2010-2011
bloodshed (AFP Photo/Peter Dejong)

The Hague (AFP) - The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court appealed on Monday against the shock acquittal of former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo over post-electoral violence that killed around 3,000 people.

Gbagbo, the first head of state to stand trial in The Hague, and his deputy Charles Ble Goude, were both cleared of crimes against humanity in January and released the following month.

"The appeal will demonstrate that the trial chamber committed legal and procedural errors which led to the acquittals of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ble Goude on all counts," Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's office said.

Judges had cleared the pair "without properly articulating and consistently applying a clearly defined standard of proof," said Bensouda.

Ivory Coast's former prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan, who heads Gbagbo's Ivorian Popular Front party, condemned the appeal.

"These are judicial delaying tactics and political doggedness to keep Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Ble Goude as far away from the country as possible to prevent them from participating in Ivory Coast's political life," he told AFP.

Georges Armand Ouegnin, the head of a pro-Gbagbo coalition of political parties and civic groups, echoed him.

"I am deeply disappointed but I'm hopeful," he said, adding that the pair "are innocent".

"It's important that they come back to Ivory Coast for national reconciliation," he added.

Belgium agreed to host Gbagbo, 73, after he was released in February under conditions including that he would return to court for any prosecution appeal against his acquittal.

Ble Goude is meanwhile living in the Netherlands under similar conditions.

Gbagbo faced charges of crimes against humanity over the 2010-2011 bloodshed following a disputed vote in the West African nation.

Prosecutors said Gbagbo clung to power "by all means" after he was narrowly defeated by his bitter rival -- now president -- Alassane Ouattara in elections in the world's largest cocoa producer.

However, judges dismissed the charges, saying that the prosecution "failed to satisfy the burden of proof to the requisite standard."

The prosecutor had previously indicated in January that she intended in appeal but had to wait until the court's full written reasons for the decision came out in July.

Gabon's sole train a lifeline for its people and economy

Yahoo – AFP, Camille MALPLAT, September 15, 2019

A file picture of the January 18, 1983, inauguration of part of Trans-Gabon
Railway (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Franceville (Gabon) (AFP) - The sky turns from indigo to ebony as the tropical night falls, and the train patiently thrusts through the jungle towards its destination, still hundreds of kilometres (miles) away.

The trek has the hallmarks of one of the world's Great Forgotten Train Journeys -- a voyage through 648 kilometres (just over 400 miles) of lush equatorial forest.

The train is the brainchild of Gabon's former president, Omar Bongo, who ruled for 42 years until his death in 2009.

In the 1970s, he dreamed of linking the central African state's resource-rich interior to the Atlantic coast -- and he saw it through, despite being rebuffed by the World Bank, which refused to fund it on the grounds that it was not economically viable.

Today, the "Bongo Train", as it is affectionately known, remains the country's sole railway line, linking 23 stations from the coastal capital Libreville to distant Franceville, the country's third most populous city.

"The Transgabonais binds Gabonese society," declares Christian Antchouet Roux, the stationmaster at Franceville.

Omar Bongo and former French president Francois Mitterrand on

the Transgabonais in January 1983 (AFP Photo/STF)

About 320,000 people take the train every year, a sign of its affordability for the average Gabonese.

Ticket prices depend on the time of year and class -- the train has a VIP carriage, as well as first and second classes.

Passengers travel only at nighttime but in air-conditioned comfort -- a rarity in the world's poorest continent -- and the blue and yellow compartments are modern.

One of them is Miyha Koumba, a young student in Libreville who uses it to visit her family at the other end of the line.

"I take the train at least four times a year. I can visit my parents regularly," she said, arriving in Libreville at 7:00 am bleary-eyed, having departed Franceville at 5:30 pm the day before.

During the day, the train hauls manganese -- a key export after oil -- from the interior to the oceanside capital.

Long haul: The project cost $1.65 billion (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Critics and champions

Touting the train as a symbol of national unity and modernisation, Bongo doggedly pressed on with the plan, saying: "If we need to have a pact with the Devil, we'll do that."

Fortune smiled on Gabon's leader in 1973 when the OPEC cartel of oil producing nations raised prices dramatically, filling the country's coffers and enabling him to start construction with the additional help of Western aid, notably from former colonial ruler France.

Bongo flagged off the project -- the largest in Africa at the time -- on December 30, 1973.

It cost $1.65 billion (more than 1.5 billion euros), and millions of trees were felled to cut the swathe through the jungle for the track, which is unelectrified.

In 1986, the last stretch was inaugurated in the presence of then French prime minister Jacques Chirac.

Critics of the project have long pointed to its cost, to its use as a political tool for Bongo, whose partisan stronghold was centred in the region where Franceville is located, and to French involvement.

French President Francois Mitterrand (L) and Gabon's President Omar Bongo 

inaugurate the second section of the Transgabonais railway in Franceville

in January 1983 (AFP Photo/DANIEL JANIN)

"Since its creation, the Transgabonais has been closely linked to France and its interests," US law professor Douglas Yates, author of "The Rentier State in Africa: Oil Rent Dependency & Neocolonialism in the Republic of Gabon", told AFP.

Its champions view it as a critical piece of infrastructure for Gabon's development.

There is a road running parallel to the tracks. But it is riddled with potholes, making the journey much longer, far less comfortable, and dangerous too.

Derailments and elephants

In a country which has been grappling with the effects of falling oil prices since 2014, the importance of manganese for the economy has ballooned.

"Without manganese, this train could not exist," said Gabonese economist Mays Mouissi.

According to an economic report by the Gabonese government, the ore accounts for a fourth of non-oil exports.

A road running parallel to the tracks is riddled with potholes 

(AFP Photo/STEVE JORDAN)

Although still volatile, a recent surge in manganese prices over the last couple of years has boosted the country's oil-dependent economy.

French mining group Eramet, which extracts 80 percent of Gabon's manganese, recently said that it wants to boost production by 60 percent by 2023.

But more than 33 years after the first train started rolling, the line is facing problems.

There have been many derailments on a stretch built on unstable terrain and maintenance has been poor.

Train services have been further compromised by technical problems, while elephants wandering over the tracks have caused delays.

To keep the line going, a massive eight-year revamp was launched in 2015, costing an estimated 330 million euros.

More than half of the total will be financed by France together with, ironically, the World Bank.

In Ivory Coast, telemedicine revolution proves blessing for heart patients

Yahoo – AFP, David ESNAULT, September 14, 2019

Thousands of heart patients in Ivory Coast are checked by telemedicine
each year (AFP Photo/DAVID ESNAULT)

Bouaké (Ivory Coast) (AFP) - Every time Catherine Coulibaly's 19-year-old son had to make a routine appointment with the cardiologist for his heart condition, she gritted her teeth as she silently counted the financial cost.

It wasn't just the hospital fee -- there was the transport, food and accommodation, too, all of it amounting to a hefty burden for an Ivorian family on a modest income.

But thanks to telemedicine -- consultations that doctors conduct through the internet or by phone -- this cost is now a fading memory.

Her son can book an appointment at a telemedicine facility in a nearby town in northern Ivory Coast.

There, he is attached to monitoring machines which send the data sent to Bouake University Hospital in the centre of the country, where it is scrutinised by a heart doctor.

The fledgling technology has long been championed by health advocates for poor rural economies.

Ivory Coast has become an African testbed for it, thanks to a project linking the Bouake hospital's cardiac department with health centres in several northern towns, some of which are a four-hour drive away.

Telemedicine "caused a sigh of relief for the population of Bouake, Boundiali, Korhogo, everyone," says Auguste Dosso, president of the "Little Heart" association, which helps families with cardiac health issues.

Some 45 percent of the Ivorian population live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank's latest estimate in 2017. And the minimum monthly wage -- not always respected -- is only around $100, or 90 euros.

Heart disease surging

The pioneer behind the scheme is cardiologist Florent Diby, who set up an association called Wake Up Africa.

In Ivory Coast, heart disease, diabetes and other "lifestyle" ailments are surging, Diby explained.

Cardiac specialists are rare in Ivory Coast -- patients can spend much of their

income in transport and accommodation when they need a consultation 

(AFP Photo/DAVID ESNAULT)

"Urbanisation is making people more sedentary, and there's the rise in tobacco consumption, changes in diet, stress," Diby said.

Three decades ago, only around one in eight of the Ivorian population had high blood pressure -- now the figure is one in four, on a par with parts of Western Europe.

But in Ivory Coast -- and across Africa -- well-equipped cardiology units are rare.

"Ninety percent of heart attacks can be diagnosed by telemedicine, so for us cardiologists it's a revolutionary technology," said Diby.

The beauty of the telemedicine scheme is that neither the doctor nor the patient has to travel far.

The cardiac patient is hooked up to the electrocardiogram (ECG) and other diagnostic machines with the help of a technician in a local health centre, which is connected to a computer in Bouake's University Hospital.

The cardiologist there can then see the results in real time, provide a diagnosis and prescribe treatment.

The five-year-old project has already linked 10 health centres to the seven cardiologists at Bouake, enabling 4,800 patients in other towns to receive consultations by telemedicine each year. The goal is to expand this to 20 sites, doubling the intake.

Expertise France, the French public agency for international technical assistance, subsidises up to 185,000 euros of the network, which pays for equipment such as computers, artificial intelligence software and internet connections.

Diby is now calling for telemedicine to be expanded in other medical fields such as neurology and psychiatry, not just in the Ivory Coast, but across West Africa too.

That opinion is shared by other experts. Sixty percent of Africans live in rural areas, where shortages of doctors are usually acute.

But numerous hurdles need to be overcome, especially investment in computers and access to the internet, according to a 2013 analysis published by the US National Library of Medicine.

Pope pleads with Madagascans to protect rainforest

Yahoo – AFP, Tsiresena MANJAKAHERY, Catherine MARCIANO, September 7, 2019

Pope Francis planted a baobab tree with Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina
at the presidential palace in Antananarivo (AFP Photo/MARCO LONGARI)

Antananarivo (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday made an impassioned plea to Madagascans to protect the Indian Ocean's unique environment from "excessive deforestation", on the second leg of his African tour.

Weeks after a spike of fires in the Amazon, the Argentine pontiff told his hosts they should "create jobs and money-making activities which respect the environment and help people escape poverty".

Madagascar -- famed for its immense diversity of flora and fauna -- is home to 25 million people, the vast majority of whom live in poverty on an income of less than two dollars a day.

More than half of its young people are out of work, even if many boast good qualifications.

The pope said there "were many causes driving excessive deforestation which benefits just a few people... and compromises the future of the country."

The authorities should also ensure social justice, he added.

The Pope presided over a vigil mass in the Androhibe Soamandrakizay diocesan 

grounds (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO).

'Alarm raised'

Madagascar's British ambassador Philip Boyle told AFP the country loses around 200,000 hectares of forest each year, adding that "most of the tropical rainforest could disappear by 2040".

he country's economy is largely dependent on agriculture, the export of vanilla and cocoa in particular.

"The alarm has been raised by the pope and we are ready to take on the challenge," environment minister Alexandre Georget told AFP.

He said Madagascar would do more to prevent forest fires, and use tree-planting drones and aerial seed bombing techniques to restore its forests.

"In six months we reached an objective of planting 40,000 hectares of land (98,000 acres), but this is pointless when there are forest fires" said Georget, adding that laws would be enforced and farmers made more aware of the issue.

Liberal-leaning president Andry Rajoelina was elected to a second term last year mainly on promises of jobs and housing.

"Corruption and inequality outrage us," said Archbishop Desire Tsarahazana, addressing the pope in his welcome speech.

Pope Francis waved to the crowds as he arrived for a vigil with young people

in Antananarivo (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Hope for the young

At Antananarivo's Soamandrakizay stadium, thousands of young people - mainly scouts - gathered for a vigil. They waited for hours in the heat.

"I am here to ask for the pope's blessing to face the harsh realities of life, insecurity, poverty and corruption," said 17-year old student Njara Raherimana, who travelled hundreds of kilometres for the event.

"All this gives me hope for change in my country," echoed fellow student, Antony Christian Tovonalintsoa, who lives in the outskirts of the capital.

During the vigil, Pope Francis lauded the "joy and enthusiasm" of the singing crowd.

He encouraged the youth not to fall into "bitterness" or to lose hope, even when they lacked the "necessary minimum" to get by and when "educational opportunities were insufficient".

The faithful lined the streets to welcome Francis to the Madagascan capital 

(AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

800,000 faithful expected

Sunday will mark the high point of Francis' visit with a huge mass in the capital expected to be attended by some 800,000 faithful.

Many had already started setting up tents on the outskirts of the city on Friday, armed with posters of the Argentine pontiff.

Prospere Ralitason, a 70-year-old farm worker, arrived with some 5,000 fellow pilgrims from the central eastern town of Ambatondrazaka, 200 kilometres (125 miles) away.

"We are tired, but it's worth making all these sacrifices to see the pope with our own eyes and receive his blessing," he told AFP,

The high point of Francis' visit will be a huge mass on Sunday attended by 

crowds of 800,000 (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

John Paul II

The last pope to visit was John Paul II 30 years ago.

"I was a lieutenant when I helped with the security of John Paul II in 1989. Today I am a divisional general and overseeing security for Francis' visit to Madagascar," said Samuel Rakotomalala.

Some 700 police officers will be deployed at the site, which is also equipped with 200 surveillance cameras and the 12,000 young scouts will also help out.

In June, 16 people were killed and dozens hurt in a stampede outside a sports stadium in the capital during a free concert.

Francis visited Mozambique earlier in the week. He is also due to travel to the island of Mauritius, which like Madagascar is situated off the eastern coast of Africa.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe hero-turned-despot, dies aged 95

Yahoo – AFP, Susan NJANJI, 6 September 2019

Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for decades until he was ousted in 2017 by military
generals who turned against him

Robert Mugabe, the former guerrilla hero turned despot who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years until the military forced him out, has died aged 95.

First heralded as a liberator who rid the former British colony Rhodesia of white minority rule, Mugabe used repression and fear to govern until he was finally ousted by his previously loyal generals in November 2017.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said his predecessor had been declared a "national hero" and that Zimbabwe would mourn him until the burial.

"The late departed icon will be eternally remembered and honoured for the bold and historic land reform programme which he undertook," said Mnangagwa during a national address broadcast on television.

Mugabe passed away at 0240 GMT in Singapore, where he had been hospitalised in April, a Zimbabwean diplomat in South Africa told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He had been battling ill health, and after a humiliating fall from office, his stamina seeped away rapidly.

Adam Molai, Mugabe's nephew, said the former president died of old age "surrounded by family".

"We are pained by his loss. But we also celebrate the life of a legend. He was a living legend. He was a pan-Africanist. He brought the country of Zimbabwe from colonialism to the freedom that we had," Molai told reporters outside the funeral parlour in Singapore.

He said the president was likely to announce when the body would move "sometime next week", adding that he could give no further details on the "state funeral".

Mugabe's popularity faded as he cracked down on opponents

In Zvimba, Mugabe's rural homestead, another nephew Leo Mugabe told reporters the family had "not yet deliberated on where he is going to be buried".

'Revolutionary'

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa remembered Mugabe as a "liberation fighter" and a "champion of Africa's cause against colonialism".

Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta hailed Mugabe as an "elder statesman, a freedom fighter and a Pan-Africanist who played a major role in shaping the interests of the African continent".

China lauded him as an "outstanding national liberation movement leader" while Russian President Vladimir Putin noted Mugabe's "great personal contribution" to Zimbabwe's independence.

But Britain said there were "mixed emotions" after his death.

"Zimbabweans suffered for too long as a result of Mugabe's autocratic role," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Mugabe years are widely remembered for his crushing of political dissent and policies that ruined the economy.

The former political prisoner turned guerrilla leader swept to power in 1980 elections after a growing insurgency and economic sanctions forced the Rhodesian government to the negotiating table.

In office, he initially won international plaudits for his declared policy of racial reconciliation and for extending improved education and health services to the black majority.

Timeline of events in Zimbabwe 1980-2017

Human rights violations

But that faded rapidly as Mugabe cracked down on his opponents. During the 1980s, he led an infamous campaign known as Gukurahundi during which an estimated 20,000 dissidents were killed.

The violent seizure of white-owned farms turned him into an international pariah -- though his status as a liberation hero still resonates strongly across Africa.

Aimed largely at angry war veterans who threatened to destabilise his rule, the land reform policy wrecked the crucial agricultural sector, caused foreign investors to flee and plunged the country into economic misery.

All along, the Mugabe regime was widely accused of human rights violations and of rigging elections.

The topic of his succession was virtually taboo until he reached his 90s and became visibly frail.

As his health weakened, the military finally intervened to quash his second wife Grace's presidential ambitions in favour of their preferred candidate, Mnangagwa, Mugabe's vice president at the time.

Mnangagwa took over in November 2017 and was elected in July last year.

Mugabe died in Singapore where he was hospitalised in April

Mixed legacy

In Zimbabwe's capital Harare, residents woke to the news and went about their daily business, with acting president Kembo Mohadi leading a planned street clean-up campaign.

Mnangagwa, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, arrived in Harare on Friday afternoon after cutting short his South Africa visit.

Many in Zimbabwe remembered Mugabe as a tyrant who oversaw the decline of one of Africa's most prosperous nations.

"Mugabe was educated but he used his education for evil. He manipulated everyone around him and fooled the world. Only Zimbabweans can testify to this as we lived in hell under his leadership," said Baster Magwizi, an independence war veteran in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city.

"As a leader the only thing he did wrong was to stay in power for a long time," Harare resident Joshua Tsenzete told AFP.

But Harare schoolteacher Tatenda Musoni was forgiving.

"To be honest I thought I would celebrate when he died but... I'm actually sad because he was an embodiment of what a true African should be.

"He had his flaws but he did a lot of positive things for us which I doubt we will ever see again in this country."

Ibbo Mandaza, head of a southern African think-tank, said Mugabe would be remembered as one of Africa's "founding fathers".

Mandaza pointed to the example of Tanzania's founding leader Julius Nyrere and South African liberation icon Nelson Mandela.

"Unlike Nyerere and Mandela he (Mugabe) stayed on. He would have had a much more favourable obituary if he had left earlier."