Mugabe accepted it was 'the end of the road' for his rule in Zimbabwe, mediator says

Robert Mugabe
(Image credit: STR/Getty Images)

Former President Robert Mugabe understood it was "the end of the road" for his nearly four-decade rule of Zimbabwe when he signed his resignation letter last week, said Father Fidelis Mukonori, a Catholic priest who helped mediate Mugabe's exit. Mukonori, who has known Mugabe for years, spoke to The Associated Press for a report published Sunday about Mugabe's final moments in office.

In another interview with the BBC, Mukonori described Mugabe, 93, taking an "elder statesman" role moving forward. "In the African world, senior citizens are there for advice," he said, adding that Mugabe's successor, former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, calls Mugabe "his father, from his mentor, from his leader" despite their past differences.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.