Zimbabwe Ruling Party Dismisses Mugabe As Leader

Robert Mugabe earlier this year

Reports from Zimbabwe say the country's ruling party has dismissed President Robert Mugabe as its leader.

Party officials said the ZANU-PF party, at an emergency meeting on November 19, replaced Mugabe with recently fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mugabe's wife Grace was also expelled from the party, reports said.

On November 18, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, Harare, to demonstrate against the Mugabes following years of economic hardship and human rights abuses.

Zimbabwe's military seized power in a bloodless coup on November 15 amid a row over Mugabe’s succession, placing the 93-year-old president under house arrest and detaining some of his allies.

The move came after Mugabe sacked Mnangagwa, who was seen as an heir to the president, leaving Grace Mugabe, 52, in prime position to succeed her husband.

Mugabe, the world's oldest head of state, has ruled since independence from white-minority rule in 1980.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and the BBC