Robert Mugabe, ex leader of now poverty-stricken nation, dies in a Singapore hospital

He was treated for prostate cancer and a cataract. In Zimbabwe poverty reaches 84% ​​in rural areas and 46.5% in urban areas. Unemployment is at 90%. Educated in a Catholic mission, he then married the nationalist and Marxist ideology to free his country from British settlers. He led Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2017.

Singapore (AsiaNews) - The former president of Zimbabwe, Rober Mugabe, died this morning in a hospital in Singapore at the age of 95. His successor Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the news who in a tweet proclaimed him " an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people". In reality, during his presidency, the country lived under an iron fist and sank into poverty. According to the latest UN figures (2011), poverty reaches 84% ​​in rural areas and 46.5% in urban areas.

According to unofficial reports, Mugabe had been in Singapore for several months and had been treated for prostate cancer, as well as a cataract.

Born in Rhodesia in 1924, and abandoned by his parents, he lived in a Catholic mission in Kutama until his adolescence. He then moved to South Africa to study, where he came into contact with personalities of African nationalism.

He adhered to an Africanist and Marxist vision and when he returned to his country, then a British colony, he worked for independence. This led to him being imprisoned for 11 years. In 1975 a long war against the white settlers, launched by his party, Zanu (Zimbabwe's African National Union) and his military arm, led to the end of the civil war - which killed 30 thousand people - and the 1980 elections, where Mugabe became prime minister.

Once elected, he tried to improve the life of the population and launched an agrarian reform, expropriating the lands of the whites and entrusting them to his loyalists, who however were inexperienced. Thus, agriculture, which had been a pillar of the economy, was destroyed and the population slipped into poverty and hunger.

He was elected president in 1990 and 1996. In 2002 he was re-elected, but he was accused of fraud, excluding his competitor Morgan Tsevangirai, who won the most votes in the first round of the 2008 elections. The Mugabe regime unleashed its rage on the opposition with violence and Tsivangirai withdrew boycotting the polls.

Mugabe was re-elected, but the international community launched sanctions against Zimbabwe, which slipped even further into poverty. In 2013, Mugabe was reelected, but Tsevangirai still accused him of fraud. After an attempt to pass the presidency to his wife Grace, he was ousted by the army on 21 November 2017, leaving the country in ruins. Zimbabwe is rich in fertile lands, platinum and lithium mines, but due to corruption and bad management during its dictatorship, the country is starving and unemployment is up to 90%.

In recent years, China has offered to improve the country's economy.