Considered the "hero" of Zimbabwe's independence before becoming a tyrant, Robert Mugabe was repatriated to this former British colony on Wednesday, 11 September. He died on Friday at the age of 95 in a luxury hospital in Singapore, where he had come regularly for several years.
The plane carrying his remains stopped at the foot of a red carpet, facing a military guard of honor and an official platform where had taken place, among others, his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa, adorned with his traditional scarf colors of Zimbabwe. A crowd of several thousand people witnessed the return of the body of the former president.
>> Read: Zimbabwe: Death of former President Robert Mugabe, this independence hero turned despot
National funerals and guests from around the world
The coffin of the former head of state, covered with the Zimbabwean flag, was then transported by a military command vehicle to its famous "Blue Roof" residence, for a first public tribute.
His remains are set to be displayed on Thursday at Rufaro stadium, a suburb of Harare, "to allow the people of the whole country to pay tribute to the illustrious hero of the war of liberation", according to the Minister of Information Monica Mutsvangwa. It was at this stage that Robert Mugabe, on 18 April 1980, took the reins of formerly British-dominated Rhodesia from the hands of his former white leader Ian Smith.
Thursday afternoon, the body must be driven in the village of Zvimba, a hundred kilometers from the capital, where the former president owned a house. The official funeral of the man who was made a "national hero" by his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will take place on Saturday morning in the huge sports stadium in Harare, home to 60,000 people.
The gratin of the African heads of state, in function or retired, was to rush to this ceremony, as well as the leaders of large "friendly" countries such as China or Cuba.
Leading figures expected by the Zimbabwean presidency include Chinese President Xi Jinping, former Cuban President Raul Castro, South African Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa, Nigerian Mohammadu Buhari or the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi.
A place of burial that is the subject of negotiations
The funeral is scheduled for Sunday, at a place that is still under intense pressure between the authorities and the family.
By his status of "national hero", Robert Mugabe should be buried in the heart of the "Field of Heroes of the Nation", a monument built on the edge of the capital to accommodate the "fighters of the war of liberation" the most famous. But the entourage of Robert Mugabe and the traditional leaders are opposed. They argue that the deceased expressed the wish to be buried in the village of Zvimba, where he owned a house.
Lacked by the military and his party, Robert Mugabe was forced to resign in 2017. He left a country stuck in a deepening economic crisis that continues to worsen. Accused of muzzling the opposition with violence during his 37-year reign, pointed out as responsible for the economic decline of his country, Robert Mugabe incarnated to the extreme the rejection of the former colonists and the West, " Whites "(" Whites ") who returned to each of his speeches.
With AFP