Mugabe being asked to resign instead of being dragged out to the bush and shot? This is a weird coup....

via Newsday.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has agreed to stand down after 37 years in power, CNN reported on Monday, after he avoided any mention of resignation in a rambling national address on Sunday night.

A resignation letter has now been drafted, CNN said, citing sources familiar with his negotiations with the generals who seized power in Harare last week.

Under the terms of the deal, Mugabe and his wife Grace would be granted full immunity, CNN said.

Pressure was now mounting from all sides on the 93-year-old, the only leader Zimbabwe has known since its independence in 1980, to swiftly end the confusion that has gripped the country since the de facto coup last Wednesday.

Mugabe stunned Zimbabweans in a rambling late night Sunday television address by avoiding any mention of resignation, pledging instead to preside over a congress next month of ZANU-PF, which had sacked him as its leader only hours earlier.

Story here. 

This is the weirdest coup I've ever seen in my life.  Are you noticing the "legalize" they're attempting to apply to this thing?  Do you notice how gentle they are being with this guy?

Full immunity?

That's just not how real coups work.  In my look back on history the way these things work is that the military storms the president's residence, the equivalent of our congress, the media and other important sites...and the former president/ruler/dictator is taken out to the bush, shot in the head and fed to the hyenas.

There is no doubt about this.

China is making their first power play in Africa and they're being careful in how they do it so they won't alarm any other African nations.

I'm actually impressed.

This is a classic Sun Tzu type takeover.  None of their troops were involved, their monetary interests are preserved, the other countries in the region are able to read between the lines and know not to jack with them...and they get to handpick the next leader of the country.

I'm beyond impressed.  I'm jealous.  I hope we're taking notes.  This is how you work in Africa...not with USMC Marine Expeditionary Unit, a brigade from the 82nd or an Army Ranger Battalion...you go low key, low risk and low effort.