Robert Mugabe, the former guerrilla hero turned despot who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years until the military forced him out, has died aged 95, the country's president announced Friday. First heralded as a liberator who rid the former British colony Rhodesia of white minority rule, Mugabe used repression and fear to govern until he was finally ousted by his previously loyal generals in November 2017.

The country's former colonial ruler Britain expressed its condolences but said there were "mixed emotions" after Mugabe's death. "Zimbabweans suffered for too long as a result of Mugabe's autocratic role," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Mugabe died at 0240 GMT in Singapore, where he had been hospitalised in April, a Zimbabwean diplomat in South Africa told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019