One of the United Nations’ major post-World War II goals was to help the developing world recover from the consequences of colonization. In some parts of Africa, though, that goal is not going well.  A key example of this failure can be seen in Zimbabwe.

From 1888 to 1964 Zimbabwe was managed by the British Government – I use “manage” lightly, as most of the accomplishments of the British involved robbing Zimbabwe of its mineral wealth, enacting racist laws, and oppressing its people.

In 1965 the Zimbabwean people started a revolution, centered in large part around guerilla tactics. One of the largest of these groups, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), was backed by Maoist China and led by Robert Mugabe. After a long and brutal war, Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980. Shortly after, Mugabe gained a landslide majority.

Since then, Mugabe has been an extremely divisive figure. In order to boost the wealth of the Zimbabwean people, he called for the seizure of white-owned farms.

Unfortunately, those farms were among the backbones of Zimbabwe’s economy, which has since entered into a downward spiral. He has been regularly accused of suppressing votes and jailing or murdering his political opponents – you don’t get 90% majorities in elections after 35 years in power without some interference.

With his background as the man who freed Zimbabwe, however, he has been extremely difficult to criticize – those that oppose him are often labeled as sellouts or traitors to the nation. Since 2005, there have been regular calls for his appearance before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Since then he has done nothing but tighten his grip on the country, which has made him extremely unpopular. His wife, Grace Mugabe, has given him an even worse name, recently, as she has been charged with assaulting a hotel worker in South Africa.

All of this has come to a head, with a coup breaking out on November 13. The Zimbabwean military has seized control of the nation in a bloodless overthrowing. Mugabe has been placed under house arrest, and Grace Mugabe’s location is unknown.

As of now, it is also unknown who is directly behind this coup – however, rumors suggest that Mugabe’s ex-Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa – known as ‘the crocodile’ – who was ousted by Mugabe one week earlier, is the man behind it.

One of the key reasons for this coup is that Mugabe has recently said that his wife (known as “Gucci Grace”), would be the one to take over for him. The military is so far simply calling this a ‘peaceful transition of power’ in order to remove ‘corrupt criminals around the president.’

So far, it would seem that unlike some military uprisings, this one is welcomed by the people of the nation and the international community. It is also interesting to note that the threat to Mugabe has not come from western governments or the United Kingdom, about which he has warned against for the past 37 years, but instead from his own people.