Robert Mugabe served as prime minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as president from 1987 to 2017 until he was forced to resign.
His near 40-year leadership of the former British colony was marked with bloodshed, persecution of political opponents and vote-rigging on a large scale.
Robert Mugabe presents the Prince of Wales with an Independence Medal at Government House in Salisbury in April 1980 Credit: PABeing sworn in as Zimbabwe’s first executive president by former president Canaan Banana in Harare in December 1987 Credit: Peter Winterbach/AP
With Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher in October 1988 Credit: PAEscorting the Queen after her arrival at Harare Airport in October 1991 Credit: Gill Allen/APWith the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh before a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in May 1994 Credit: PAWith US President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1995 Credit: Greg Gibson/APAt his wedding to Grace Marufu, 41 years his junior, at the Kutama Catholic Mission in August 1996 Credit: Joao Silva/APIn talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair in Edinburgh in October 1997 Credit: PAAddressing supporters at a rally in Gweru in March 2008 Credit: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/APArriving for the burial of a prominent member of his Zanu-PF party, Misheck Chando, in Harare in October 2009 Credit: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/APDelivering his speech at his party’s 13th annual conference, in Gweru, in December 2012 Credit: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/APShaking hands with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after signing the new constitution into law at State House in Harare in May 2013 Credit: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/APBeing welcomed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, in November 2015 Credit: Lefteris Pitarakis/APOfficiating at a graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University on the outskirts of Harare in November 2017 Credit: Ben Curtis/APWith his wife Grace after a press conference at their residence in Harare in July 2018 Credit: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP
