Zimbabwe

In November 2017, President Robert Mugabe was ousted in a military coup and was replaced by his former deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has his own long record of rights violations. During the military takeover, the army arrested and detained a number of Mugabe's associates without providing information about the arrest, or places and conditions of detention. Mnangagwa confirmed that elections will take place as scheduled, by August 2018, but did not address the issue of meaningful security sector, media or electoral reforms to ensure free and fair elections. Prior to his ouster, Mugabe had presided over intensified repression of peaceful protests against human rights violations and an economy on the brink of collapse. His administration disregarded the rights provisions in the country's 2013 consitution, and implemented no meaningful human rights reforms. Widespread impunity for abuses by police and state security agents remained.