HARARE: Several tanks were seen moving near the Zimbabwean capital on Tuesday, witnesses said, a day after the army warned it could intervene over a purge of ruling party officials.

The sightings came as uncertainty swirls in Harare due to President Robert Mugabe’s decision to fire his vice president last week, prompting a warning of possible military intervention from the army chief.

The reason for the military presence was not immediately clear, but the vehicles may have been on routine manoeuvres.

The military spokesman was not available to comment.

“I saw a long convoy of military vehicles, including tanks, about an hour ago. I don’t know where they were heading,” a female fruit seller near Westgate shopping centre, about 10 kilometres from central Harare, said. A second female bystander at the shopping centre also said she had seen the convoy.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2017