He had left a regional summit on Tuesday, but flight data showed his plane went to Dubai after an original flight path indicated a course toward Asia.
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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has laughed off reports he is gravely ill, joking he had died and resurrected as he returned home to reports he had been temporarily replaced as leader.
Reports that Mr Mugabe’s health is on the decline have become common, but he has often said he is as “fit as fiddle”.
Mugabe is known to receive medical treatment in Singapore.
The ruling ZANU-PF party recently expelled four leading war veterans after they called Mugabe “dictatorial”. I resurrected as I always do.
President Mugabe and First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe are welcomed by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa on their arrival at the Harare International Airport last night. “Once I get back to my country I am real”, Mugabe added tongue-in-cheek in English, referring to speculation on some online news websites that he had succumbed to illness.
His absence had raised the level of uncertainly in this southern African country already in economic and political turmoil.
Zimbabwe police announced on Thursday a two-week ban on protests in the capital Harare, after a string of violent demonstrations in recent weeks calling on Mugabe to step down.
Zimbabweans are growing increasingly frustrated with Mugabe and his failure to fix the economy. He has said he would run again in elections in 2018.
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Mugabwe has led Zimbabwe since its formation in 1980 from the remains of white-ruled Rhodesia.
