Robert Gabriel Mugabe (born 21 February 1924) is the current President of Zimbabwe. He has held power as the head of government since 1980, as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987, and as the first executive head of state since 1987. In 2008, his party suffered a defeat in national elections, but Mugabe retained power after running unopposed in a subsequent run-off election. Mugabe rose to prominence in the 1960s as a Zimbabwe African National Union leader in guerilla warfare against white-minority rule in Rhodesia in the Bush War (1964–1979). Emerging from this conflict, Mugabe was hailed by many Africans as a hero.

Since 1998 Mugabe's policies have elicited domestic and international condemnation. Mugabe's government supported the Southern African Development Community's intervention in the Second Congo War; expropriated thousands of white-owned farms; printed hundreds of trillions of Zimbabwean dollars, causing hyperinflation; and harassed and intimidated such political opponents as the Movement for Democratic Change. The resulting downward spiral in Zimbabwe's economy has been accompanied by oil and food shortages, massive internal displacement and emigration. In July 2008, referring to the Mugabe regime, the Group of Eight released a collective statement saying that they "do not accept the legitimacy of a government that does not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people".

On September 15, 2008, a power-sharing agreement brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki was signed. Under the deal, Mugabe remained President, Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister,edition.cnn.com, Rivals sign Zimbabwe power-share deal the MDC controls the Republic Police, Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front commands the Army, and Arthur Mutambara became Deputy Prime Minister.

Overview

Mugabe rose to prominence in the 1960s as the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). For many years in the '60s and '70s Mugabe was a political prisoner in Rhodesia. His goal was to replace white minority-rule with a one-party Marxist regime. Having being a political prisoner for 10 years,immediately on release with Edgar Tekere ,Mugabe left Rhodesia in 1974 to join the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle (Rhodesian Bush War) from bases in Mozambique. At the end of the war in 1979, Mugabe emerged as a hero in the minds of many Africans. He won the general elections of 1980, the second in which the majority Black Africans participated in large numbers (though the electoral system in Rhodesia had allowed Black participation based on qualified franchise), amid reports of violent intimidation by the militants he now controlled. Mugabe then became the first Prime Minister after calling for reconciliation between formerly warring parties, including the white people as well as rival parties.