Mugabe Says He’ll Retire Within 5 Years

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe suggested in an interview marking his 80th birthday that he would retire as president within five years.

“In five years ... I won’t leave politics, but I will have retired, obviously,” Mugabe said in the conversation on state television.

Mugabe, who turns 80 today, has been in power since his country gained independence from Britain in 1980. He has left his retirement plans open for the last year despite speculation that he wants a graceful exit in the face of severe economic and political turmoil that critics blame on his misrule.

Mugabe won a new six-year term as president in a 2002 election viewed as fraudulent by the opposition, and previously dismissed speculation that he would not serve out his term.