ZIMBABWE’S military is fracturing along generational lines in a potentially dangerous turn for the Southern African nation as President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party splits over who will succeed him. With Mugabe approaching his 93rd birthday and Zimbabwe’s economy imploding, some top military leaders were choosing sides in faction fights of the ruling Zanu (PF), said four members of the party’s politburo who spoke on condition of anonymity. Veterans of the independence war against the white-minority state of Rhodesia mainly backed Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa against Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, they said. The splits threaten the cohesion of a military that has been a pillar of Mugabe’s power base since the armed struggle that led to independence in 1980. With rising protests over an economy that has halved in size since 2000, who senior army commanders support in the ruling party may determine the country’s next president. "The generals are involved in a war of generations," sa...
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