Robert Mugabe USSR-supported post-election coup plot on Nkomo uncovered in declassified UK government files
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Robert Mugabe USSR-supported post-election coup plot on Nkomo uncovered in declassified UK government files

Robert Mugabe planned USSR-supported post-election coup , newly declassified documents reveal.

The former President travelled to Maputo and DAR ES SALAAM to arrange ” indirect Russian support ” for a coup after the 1980 election should he loose to ZAPU led by Joshua Nkomo.A memo dated February 28, 1980, showed South African concerns about voter intimidation and possibility that Mugabe is planning USSR-supported post-election coup.Late Lieutenant General George Peter Walls passed on the intelligence to Pik Botha’s administration.

UK Government documents from 1980 suggested that Mugabe’s plans could lead to ” another Angola debacle ” and therefore should be stopped.

The same documents show that Mugabe had been summoned by Samora Machel to be told that he must mend his fences with Joshua Nkomo. Seperate documents dated February 19, 1980 shows both Joshua Nkomo and Abel Muzorewa expressing concern over voter intimidation by Mugabe.

Nkomo hoped that he would be Prime Minister after the elections. ” He would wish to form a coalition with two of the other three African parties he expects to get any seats (Muzorewa, Mugabe and Sithole) and with the whites”, the document says.

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