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Robert Gabriel Mugabe[mOOgA´bE, -bA] Pronunciation Key, 1924–, president of Zimbabwe (1987–). A founder of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in 1963 and a guerrilla leader, Mugabe jointly negotiated independence in 1979 with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). When Mugabe's ZANU won a majority in 1980, he became prime minister and chose reconciliation, including Nkomo and whites in his cabinet. After he was elected president in 1987, Mugabe negotiated a ZANU-ZAPU merger (1988), returning Nkomo to the government. Reelected in 1990 and 1996, Mugabe was forced to abandon his commitment to a one-party Marxist state by 1991, but he nonetheless consolidated power, virtually eliminating opposition, and his regime became increasingly autocratic. Mugabe was an aggressive supporter of sanctions against South Africa before the lifting of apartheid. By 2000 support for Mugabe had dropped dramatically in urban areas; a constitutional change to increase presidential power lost at the polls, and an opposition party later won nearly half the elected seats in parliament. He was reelected in 2002 in a vote marked by government intimidation of the opposition and charges of vote rigging.
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