Deposed Zimbabwe Vice President to Form Transitional Government

Zimbabwe’s sacked Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa plans to install a transitional government that will rule the African nation until the general elections in five years, a local newspaper has said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Financial Gazette cited high-ranking sources as saying Thursday that the plan to form a caretaker authority together with the opposition was endorsed by the Zimbabwean military, an ally of Emmerson Mnangagwa who was fired and ousted from the ruling party last week.

Mnangagwa returned to the national capital of Harare shortly after the Zimbabwean army seized power and put President Robert Mugabe under house arrest earlier this week. The army claimed it was targeting criminals around the 93-year-old leader.

The unrest in Zimbabwe occurred as a result of tensions after Mugabe fired Mnangagwa, with the army chief threatening to "step in" and calling on the country's leader to stop the "purge" in the ruling party.

Earlier this week, the ruling party in Zimbabwe has announced that the country was in a "bloodless transition" of power from Mugabe, who had reportedly been heavily guarded by the military and preparing to announce his resignation.

According to South African News24, Mugabe, who has been the country's president since 1987, managed to reach an agreement with the army's representatives that his wife would leave the country.

After media reports had emerged claiming that armored vehicles had been moving toward the Zimbabwean capital, while the military had allegedly seized the state-run television broadcasting station ZBC, the African Union has stated that the crisis "seems like a coup."