Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)- The State Department says the United States is “concerned by recent actions undertaken by Zimbabwe’s military forces” and it calls on the country’s leaders to exercise restraint as uncertainty continues.
Zimbabwe’s army has announced that President Robert Mugabe and his family were under house arrest.
The State Department says the US “does not take sides in matters of internal Zimbabwean politics and does not condone military intervention in political processes”.
When asked whether the actions are considered a coup, the State Department said it continues to monitor the situation, “which remains fluid”. The US has been in contact with Zimbabwe’s military and foreign affairs ministry.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the African Union Commission has told reporters in Washington that Zimbabwe president Mugabe and his wife Grace are “safe in the country”.
The comments by Moussa Faki Mahamat at the National Press Club were shared on Twitter by a spokesperson for the continental body. There had been questions over whether first lady Grace Mugabe had left Zimbabwe.
The AU leader also says a delegation from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community is already in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, as authorities seek to meet with Mugabe and the army.
The AU chair also says the continental body is against “any unlawful takeover of power anywhere on the continent.”
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