President Robert Mugabe shocked Zimbabweans on Sunday during a nationwide broadcast as he defied his own ZANU-PF party, which had sacked him hours earlier.
The 93-year-old president, who has being under intense pressure to resign, failed to handover power after a military coup earlier toppled his government.
But in the speech from his State House office, sitting alongside a row of generals, Mugabe acknowledged criticisms from ZANU-PF, the military and the public but made no mention of his own position.
In his address, Mugabe made no reference to the clamour for him to resign.
Instead he paid tribute to three pillars of power in Zimbabwe — the military, the ruling party and the war veterans movement — and urged national solidarity.
“Whatever the pros and cons of how they (the army) went about their operation, I, as commander-in-chief, do acknowledge their concerns,” said Mugabe.
“We must learn to forgive and resolve contradictions real or perceived in a comradely Zimbabwean spirit,” he said.
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