He died Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe who went from independence hero to tyrant

Zimbabwean ex-president Robert Mugabe, an independence hero who led the African country with an iron hand between 1980 and 2017 and sank his economy, died at the age of 95.

"With deep sadness, announcement the death of the founding father of Zimbabwe and former president, Commander Robert Mugabe, "the current head of state, Emmerson Mnangagwa, said Friday in a tweet.

The former head of state died in a hospital in Singapore, where he spent seasons for medical reasons, according to the South African government. At the moment no further details of the circumstances of death.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa praised a "liberation fighter and defender of the cause of Africa against colonialism".

Mugabe took the reins of ancient Rhodesia, after its independence, in 1980. During his 37 year term at the head of Zimbabwe, one of the longest in the African continent, went from being a hero of independence and friend of the West to a tyrant who provoked the economic collapse of his country.

"Comrade Bob"

Received as liberator In 1980, his reconciliation policy on behalf of the country's unit earned him general praise, especially in foreign capitals.

But quickly, the hero showed hard hand with his opponents. His abuses against the opposition, electoral frauds and especially his violent agrarian reform launched in 2000 received the sentences of the West.

Comrade Bob, long considered unsinkable, was gradually abandoned by the faithful to his regime.

At the end of 2017, after an army coup supported by his party (Zanu-PF), the then longest-running head of state on the planet He was forced to resign. He left a country in a deep economic crisis that continues to worsen.

He was replaced at the head of the country by his former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whom he had dismissed shortly before.

Sovereign provocative, accustomed to shocking methods, Robert Mugabe often provoked so much the outrage of his detractors like the applause of his supporters.

Since his resignation, with a fragile health he made few public appearances. In recent years, he suffered more than a stumble and some falls in public.

According to the local press, he made numerous medical stays in Singapore, where he had been traveling regularly for several years.