Mugabe supporters rally in Zimbabwe amid tensions over succession

Zimbabwe"s President Robert Mugabe addresses Zimbabwe"s Independence Day celebrations in Harare, April 18, 2016.Photo/Reuters
Zimbabwe"s President Robert Mugabe addresses Zimbabwe"s Independence Day celebrations in Harare, April 18, 2016.Photo/Reuters

Tens of thousands of Robert Mugabe supporters marched in Zimbabwe's capital on Wednesday in a show of unity as divisions are widening within the president's party over who might succeed him.

Demonstrators were shipped in from all over Zimbabwe for the "One Million-Man" march, organised by the ZANU-PF party's youth wing.

They sang pro-Mugabe songs as they spilled out of buses in downtown Harare.

"We are here to tell everyone that the youth league is 100 percent behind comrade Mugabe's leadership," said Prosper Machado, a youth leader from central Zimbabwe.

"We are saying no to factionalism because President Mugabe is the only centre of power that we recognise. He is our candidate for 2018 (elections) and so there is no vacancy."

Now 92, Mugabe is the only leader the southern African nation has known since independence from Britain in 1980.

As senior members of his ZANU-PF jockey for position in a post-Mugabe era, two factions have emerged, one linked to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and one to Mugabe's wife Grace.

Obert Gutu, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said the march was an attempt to paper over a the party's disintegration.

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