The African Union (AU) has said that the military takeover codenamed Operation Restore Legacy by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in November was not a coup. The AU chose to describe the military’s takeover of power as “dialogue between the leadership of the country.” The AU also said that it was not going to take any action Zimbabwe because of the events which occured in November.
AU commissioner for peace and security Smail Chergui told Russian publication Sputnik:
It’s not a coup according to African Union rules because we are the one to declare if someone has made a coup and then apply sanctions… We are neither in a crisis in Zimbabwe nor in an extraordinary situation.
We didn’t lose a single life in this process, totally peaceful and at the end, even the [former] president left with honour.
It was just a dialogue between the leadership of the country and the president and they convinced him that maybe some of the actions taken, including around him and his immediate surrounding, were not good for the country, and he accepted to submit his resignation willingly.
Former cabinet minister and alleged G40 Faction kingpin, Jonathan Moyo, who is reported to have fled the country for Kenya, has been very vocal in criticising the military’s actions as a coup. Moyo has called on the African Union and the SADC to fix what he called a historic wrong in Zimbabwe saying that “A coup needs a cure.” Members of the G40 Faction which was backing former first lady Grace Mugabe have since been expelled from Zanu-PF with Moyo, Saviour Kasukuwere and former president Robert Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao preferring to go into exile.
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