Robert Mugabe

Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born February 21, 1924) has been the head of government in Zimbabwe, first as Prime Minister and later as first executive President, since 1980.

Gukurahundi

See main article: Gukurahundi

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Beginning in 1981 there were a series of confrontations between ex-ZIPRA and ex-ZANLA cadres in both integrated units, and in the Assembly Points. These events, in addition to complaints of favoritism towards ex-ZANLA troops in the new national army, led to the defection of many ex-ZIPRA cadres, some of whom returned to the bush to fight once again as dissidents. In 1983 Mugabe dismissed Nkomo from his cabinet after discovering arms cached on ZAPU-owned farms, which triggered even more ex-ZIPRA soldiers to defect, out of both fear of retribution and anger over what they saw as mistreatment of their leaders.

Related Topics:
1981 - 1983

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Claiming that its goal was to destroy the army defectors who had taken to the bush (so-called 'dissidents') Mugabe's personal military unit, the 5th Brigade (it worked outside the normal military in that it reported only to the Prime Minister's office directly), brutally killed, raped, and tortured thousands of innocent civilians in Ndebeleland, and systematically killed and imprisoned political opposition. The violence only ended in 1987 when ZAPU leader, Joshua Nkomo, allowed ZAPU to be swallowed by ZANU-PF in exchange for the end of the slaughter of the Ndebele people and ZAPU supporters. This period of violence is the darkest era of Zimbabwe's post-independence history, and it introduced for the first time Mugabe's all too common use of food as a political weapon. In an attempt to 'starve out the dissidents' Mugabe would shut off food aid, close all stores, and ban the importation of food into Ndebeleland - a horrfying act of human rights abuse when one considers the area had suffered under drought for over three years straight.

Related Topics:
1987 - Joshua Nkomo

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In 1987 the position of Prime Minister was abolished, and Mugabe assumed the new office of executive President of Zimbabwe gaining additional powers in the process. He was re-elected in 1990 and 1996, and, in very controversial circumstances, in 2002.

Related Topics:
1987 - 1990 - 1996 - 2002

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