KAMPALA — President Yoweri Museveni has Friday, September 6 joined fellow world leaders to mourn the passing of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
In a statement on his social media, Mr. Museveni praised Mugabe for being a liberation icon and a great Pan-Africanist.
“I learnt this morning about the passing of an African liberation icon and great Pan-Africanist, His Excellency Robert Mugabe,” he twitted.
“I join His Excellency Emmerson Mnangagwa, the people of Zimbabwe and the entire African continent in mourning the demise of this great son of Africa. May his soul rest in peace,” he added.
Robert Mugabe, the founding father of Zimbabwe who ruled the country with an iron fist for more than three decades, died on Friday morning aged 95.
Rumors had swirled around the health of the ex-president, who spent months in a hospital in Singapore earlier this year.
Details of what ailed him were a closely guarded secret.
President Mugabe — who infamously claimed that “only God” could ever remove him from office — was deposed in a coup in 2017, when members of his own party turned against him after he dismissed then vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa to make way for his wife, Grace.
Mnangagwa would go on to become Zimbabwe’s next president.
“It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe’s founding father and former President, Cde Robert Mugabe,” tweeted Mnangagwa on Friday.
“Cde Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”
Several other Ugandans including First Son Maj. Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba have mourned President Mugabe.
Maj. Gen Kainerugaba, said Mzee Mugabe was as a great believer and defender of Africa.
“Very sad to hear about the passing of Robert Mugabe,” Gen. Kainerugaba twitted adding that “Mzee Mugabe was a Liberation struggle icon.”
” His contribution to the defeat of racism and colonialism in Zimbabwe is indisputable. He was a great believer and defender of Africa. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”
Ofwono Opondo, Director Media Centre and Government Spokesperson:
“So sad. Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe an icon is gone. Rest in Peace. You gave us all you had to face down arrogant imperialists, white supremacists and segregationists. Your name is written in indelible ink.”
ICT minister Frank Tumwebaze:
“A great icon indeed. He defied all anti-African narratives weaved in all sorts of imperial propaganda against him and his country. He truly stood for all-round African interests. May his soul rest in peace”