UPDATE - Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe appears in public

UPDATES WITH WAR VETERANS ASSOCIATION HEAD'S NEWS CONFERENCE

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AA) - President Robert Mugabe Friday appeared in public in capital Harare for the first time since the military moved against him Tuesday.

Mugabe was spotted at a graduation ceremony at the Zimbabwe Open University.

Earlier on Thursday, he had appeared in a picture with the generals who were said to be behind the military intervention.

According to some analysts, the army wants to gives an impression that everything was “normal” in the country.

Mugabe and his family were said to be detained at home after army took charge of the country.

Earlier Friday, the Zimbabwe Defense Forces said progress had been made in the ongoing negotiations with the president, which was reportedly urging him to face the reality that it was over for him and he must step down.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s surviving liberation war fighters called for Mugabe's immediate expulsion from the governing Zanu-PF party and government as its president.

Addressing a news conference after arriving from South Africa where Zimbabwe’s expelled Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa is said to be holed up, chairperson of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association blasted the country’s president.

“Mugabe was not even there when he was appointed the possible leader of Zanu-PF; he was chosen by the war veterans; all the nationalists who never received our baptism, our approval as war veterans, never made it during the struggle,” Mutsvangwa said.

About Mugabe officiating at a recent graduation ceremony that took place at the Zimbabwe Open University in Harare, Mutsvangwa said: “He is defying the population, trying to give a semblance of normality when things are not normal; that’s why we are saying don’t lie to yourself; it’s a delusion; you know he has been deluding himself -- he is deluded.”

Commenting on the alleged military coup that took place recently against Mugabe, Mutsvangwa said: “it is not a military coup; it is a judicious military intervention.”

Meanwhile, a note was extended to Mutsvangwa from representatives of the Zanu-PF provincial committees recommending the expulsion of Mugabe from the Zanu-PF party.

“Zanu-PF provinces Harare, Masvingo, Midlands and Mash West have passed a resolution to have Mugabe expelled from the party,” read the note, which also went viral on Twitter.

The war veterans leader said Saturday they would convene a national rally where Zimbabweans and liberation war fighters from all walks of life would call for the immediate peaceful resignation of Mugabe as president of this country and the governing Zanu-PF party.