Longtime Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe is dead at 95

Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe who ruled from its liberation from Britain in 1980 until his ouster in 2017, has died, his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, confirmed Friday. He was 95. "It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe's founding father and former president, Cde Robert Mugabe," Mnangagwa announced via Twitter.

Mugabe died in Singapore, where he often went for medical care in recent years, Reuters reports. Mnangagwa did not give any details, but he announced last fall that Mugabe could no longer walk and there was speculation he was battling prostate cancer.

Mugabe was originally celebrated as a reformer and liberation icon, but he became increasingly autocratic, especially after brutally crushing a 1987 uprising. Zimbabwe's once-robust economy began to unravel after a land-redistribution program in 2000 that was purportedly aimed at transferring rich farmland from white landowners to poor black farmers; instead, Mugabe gave the best land to cronies, party leaders, relatives, and military chiefs.

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Mugabe once said he planned to rule for life, and his last few elections were marred by widespread allegations of voter fraud. His presidency finally came to an end when the faction of his ruling party led by his wife, Grace, lost a power struggle against Mnangagwa's faction. When Mugabe was forced out of power on Nov. 21, 2017, there were wild celebrations on the the streets of Harare, the capital.