The body of
Zimbabwe’s ex-president Robert Mugabe was flown out of Singapore Wednesday
following his death last week, his nephew said, heading home for burial in a
country bitterly divided by the hero-turned-despot’s legacy.
Mugabe, a
guerrilla leader who swept to power after Zimbabwe’s independence from Britain
and went on to rule for 37 years until he was ousted in 2017, died on Friday,
aged 95.
His health
deteriorated after he was toppled by the military and former loyalists in
November 2017, ending an increasingly iron-fisted rule that sent the economy
into ruin.
He died after
receiving treatment at a Singapore hospital for several months, and a
delegation including Vice President Kembo Mohadi travelled to the affluent
city-state on a chartered flight to bring him home.
Early Wednesday
a hearse transporting Mugabe’s body left a Singapore funeral parlour bound for
an airport and accompanied by a police escort, driving past a group of waiting
journalists.
A plane
carrying the former leader and the visiting delegation departed shortly
afterwards, his nephew Adam Molai told AFP.
“It just left
now,” he said by phone from the plane as it took off, with the noise of the
aircraft audible in the background.
The Zimbabwean
delegation arrived on Tuesday and attended a private Catholic mass for Mugabe
at the funeral parlour, officiated by a Zimbabwean priest. AFP
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