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Explosion rocks stadium during presidential rally in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe president survives apparent assassination attempt
(about 1 hour later)
An explosion rocked a stadium where Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was addressing a campaign rally on Saturday, state media reported, adding he was not injured and had been evacuated from the scene. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of Zimbabwe, has escaped an apparent assassination attempt during an election campaign rally in the southern city of Bulawayo.
Mnangagwa was taken safely at a state house in the city of Bulawayo, where he had been speaking before next month’s election, the Zimbabwe Herald reported. Local media reported that security personnel, several ministers and possibly the vice-president were hurt in the blast in the White City stadium on Saturday.
Witnesses said the blast happened when Mnangagwa had just finished addressing the crowd and was leaving the podium. They also added the explosion was close to the VIP tent. George Charamba, the president’s spokesman, told the Herald, a local newspaper, that Mnangagwa had not been injured in the attack, which occurred as the 75-year-old head of state had just finished addressing the crowd and was leaving the podium.
Several people appeared to be injured, and footage showed medical staff rushing to the scene. State television immediately cut its broadcast. “Investigations are under way and more details will be given to the public. There have been multiple attempts on the president’s life over the past five years.”
The explosion came just hours after a similar attack in Ethiopia, where a blast killed at least one person and injured scores just after the new prime minister addressed a huge rally in the capital. Footage posted online showed Mnangagwa waving to the crowd, turning to step off the podium and walking into the open-sided VIP tent, where seconds later the explosion occurred. People ducked and screamed and smoke billowed. State television immediately cut its broadcast.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba told the Zimbabwe Herald that investigations were under way, adding that there have been multiple attempts on Mnangagwa’s life over the years. The incident came hours after a blast struck a large rally by supporters of Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, in the capital, Addis Ababa, wounding dozens of people. The coming election in Zimbabwe is the latest turning point in the most tumultuous few months in almost four decades of Zimbabwe’s political history.
Mnangagwa took power in November after his former ally, longtime leader Robert Mugabe, stepped down under military pressure. In November, Robert Mugabe was forced out of power after 37 years, following a peaceful military takeover supported by the vast majority of the 17 million population.
The poll on 30 July pits Zanu-PF, the ruling party, against the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the longstanding opposition.
Zanu-PF is led by Mnangagwa, a former vice-president known as “the Crocodile” who took power when Mugabe was ousted. Polls indicate a potentially close race, but one that Zanu-PF should win. Though hard fought, the campaign so far has seen little of the violence associated with previous elections in Zimbabwe.
Past votes have been marked by systematic intimidation of the opposition and fraud, and the US and others have said a credible vote is key to lifting international sanctions.
The EU has deployed election observers in Zimbabwe for the first time in 16 years.
Few experts and analysts, or politicians, have raised the possibility that Mnangagwa might be targeted for assassination. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, is traditionally an opposition stronghold but there was no indication of who might be responsible for Saturday’s attack.
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The upcoming 30 July election will be the first without Mugabe in the southern African nation since its 1980 independence. Many in the south of Zimbabwe revile Mnangagwa for his alleged role in massacres committed by government forces in the early 1980s.Opinion of Mnangagwa is divided among western diplomats and analysts in Harare.
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city and where Mnangagwa was speaking, is traditionally an opposition stronghold. Some are convinced the president wants to be seen as the statesman who has restored democracy in Zimbabwe and who would step down if defeated. Others say the Crocodile “does not have a democratic bone in his body”, but has pragmatically recognised the need to win international legitimacy if his country is to access the financial assistance it so desperately needs.
ZimbabweZimbabwe
Emmerson MnangagwaEmmerson Mnangagwa
AfricaAfrica
Robert MugabeRobert Mugabe
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