HARARE, Sept 3 — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 92, returned to his country today, ending speculation that he’d died or suffered a stroke on board an Air Zimbabwe flight.
“I went to sort out things with my child in Dubai,” he told reporters at Harare International Airport, adding, “yes, I was dead, it’s true I was dead. I resurrected as I always do once in get back to my country. I am real again.”
Mugabe had last been seen after a Southern African Development Community meeting in Swaziland. His airplane appeared to be heading across the Indian Ocean towards Singapore, where he seeks regular medical attention, before turning north and landing in Dubai, according to the Flight Tracker website.
Zimbabwe has been wracked by regular protests against Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party in recent weeks as citizens complain about worsening economic conditions, corruption, police brutality and the need for electoral reform. — Bloomberg
