Robert Mugabe Fast Facts

CNN Editorial Research

Updated 1037 GMT (1837 HKT) March 10, 2020

Robert Mugabe is sworn in for his seventh term as Zimbabwe's President in August 2013. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/21/africa/robert-mugabe-resigns-zimbabwe-president/index.html" target="_blank">He resigned</a> in November 2017 after nearly four decades in power.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe is sworn in for his seventh term as Zimbabwe's President in August 2013. He resigned in November 2017 after nearly four decades in power.
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Mugabe gestures towards the media in Geneva, Switzerland, at a 1974 conference convened to address the civil war in Rhodesia. After being imprisoned for 10 years in Rhodesia, Mugabe attended the peace talks as a leader of the guerrilla movement ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front). Rhodesia was the state that eventually became Zimbabwe.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe gestures towards the media in Geneva, Switzerland, at a 1974 conference convened to address the civil war in Rhodesia. After being imprisoned for 10 years in Rhodesia, Mugabe attended the peace talks as a leader of the guerrilla movement ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front). Rhodesia was the state that eventually became Zimbabwe.
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Mugabe speaks to the press in Geneva in 1976. The following year he was elected president of ZANU-PF and commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe speaks to the press in Geneva in 1976. The following year he was elected president of ZANU-PF and commander-in-chief of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army.
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Mugabe holds a news conference in Salisbury -- now Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe -- in March 1980. He had just been elected as the first prime minister of Zimbabwe, helping to form the new country after British rule of Rhodesia came to an end.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe holds a news conference in Salisbury -- now Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe -- in March 1980. He had just been elected as the first prime minister of Zimbabwe, helping to form the new country after British rule of Rhodesia came to an end.
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From left, NBC News moderator Bill Monroe, Newsday's Les Payne, the Chicago Sun Times' Robert Novak and NBC News' Garrick Utley speak with Mugabe during an episode of "Meet the Press" in 1980.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
From left, NBC News moderator Bill Monroe, Newsday's Les Payne, the Chicago Sun Times' Robert Novak and NBC News' Garrick Utley speak with Mugabe during an episode of "Meet the Press" in 1980.
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Mugabe holds hands with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at the Organization of African Unity summit in August 1982.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe holds hands with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at the Organization of African Unity summit in August 1982.
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Mugabe speaks with his first wife, Sally, during an event in Salisbury in 1980. The pair were married until Sally died in 1992. They had one son, who died at age 4.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe speaks with his first wife, Sally, during an event in Salisbury in 1980. The pair were married until Sally died in 1992. They had one son, who died at age 4.
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Mugabe meets with French President Francois Mitterand in Paris in 1982.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe meets with French President Francois Mitterand in Paris in 1982.
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Mugabe is seen with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi in 1983.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe is seen with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi in 1983.
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Mugabe walks hand in hand with American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson during the Summit of Non-Aligned Countries, which Harare hosted in 1986.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe walks hand in hand with American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson during the Summit of Non-Aligned Countries, which Harare hosted in 1986.
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Mugabe delivers a speech in Harare in August 1986.
Photos: The life and career of Robert Mugabe
Mugabe delivers a speech in Harare in August 1986.
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Mugabe poses for a photo with other leaders at a Commonwealth of Nations meeting in London in 1986. Pictured from left, in the back row, are Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Commonwealth Secretary-General S.S. Ramphal, Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke and Mugabe. In the front row, from left, are British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden Pindling and Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda.