Mugabe returns to Zimbabwe amid ill health rumors

Zimbabwe’s 92-year-old leader has returned home amid rumors that his health is failing.

Robert Mugabe’s plane touched down at the main airport in the capital, Harare, on Saturday.

Reports say Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader, went to Dubai to seek medical attention.

Zimbabweans are growing increasingly frustrated with Mugabe and his failure to fix the economy.

He is dealing with a wave of opposition to his 36-year rule in the form of public protests. Zimbabwe’s chronic economic woes have intensified following a drought and a severe cash shortage that has held up salaries for civil servants.

“The people’s desperation is very deep,” says former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, which ended with the country’s independence in 1980, have traditionally been a key bastion of support for Mugabe, but that backing appears to be crumbling. The ruling ZANU-PF party recently expelled four leading war veterans after they called Mugabe “dictatorial.”

Mugabe, who was a leader in the independence movement, has been in power since 1980.