Zimbabwe on Sunday prepared to inaugurate a president for the second time in nine months as a country recently jubilant over the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe is now largely subdued by renewed harassment of the opposition and a bitterly disputed election.
The military-backed President Emmerson Mnangagwa, now facing another swearing-in, faces the mammoth task of rebuilding a worsening economy and uniting a nation deeply divided by a vote that many hoped would deliver change.
The 75-year-old Mnangagwa, who took power from his mentor Mugabe with the military's help in November, said "my door is open and my arms are outstretched" to main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa after the Constitutional Court on Friday rejected opposition claims of vote-rigging and upheld the president's narrow July 30 victory.
People queue to enter the stadium for the inauguration ceremony of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. This is the second swearing-in of Mnangagwa in just nine months as a country once jubilant over the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe is now more subdued after the reemergence of harassment of the opposition.(AP PhotoTsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
"It is time to move forward together," said Mnangagwa, who has promised democratic and economic reforms.
Chamisa on Saturday said he respectfully rejects the court ruling and called the inauguration "false."
"They know they can't invite me to a wedding where I was the one supposed to be receiving the gifts," he said. His spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda on Sunday said "we haven't received any formal invitation" to the inauguration.
People queue to enter the stadium for the inauguration ceremony of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. This is the second swearing-in of Mnangagwa in just nine months as a country once jubilant over the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe is now more subdued after the reemergence of harassment of the opposition. (AP PhotoTsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
The 40-year-old Chamisa has called for dialogue with Mnangagwa but suggested that talks on power-sharing first must acknowledge the opposition leader's alleged victory. "You cannot steal my goats and then ask me to come and share them with you. Give me the goats first, then we can talk about sharing," he said.
Ruling party spokesman Paul Mangwana criticized Chamisa for saying he will snub the inauguration.
"He should grace the event. It is important for nation-building at this critical time. The problem is the (Movement for Democratic Change party) did not give us a good opposition leader, they gave us a schoolboy, so he is playing schoolboy politics," Mangwana told The Associated Press.
Upbeat supporters of the president and ruling ZANU-PF party streamed into the 60,000-seat National Sports Stadium in the capital, Harare, many wearing pro-Mnangagwa regalia.
Some said they woke up before dawn to catch buses and trucks ferrying them from villages hundreds of kilometers from the capital.
State-run media said the heads of state of South Africa, Congo and Zambia also were attending. Botswana's former leader and a sharp critic of Mugabe, Ian Khama, attended Mnangagwa's first inauguration in November but will miss this time "due to prior commitments," Botswana's government said.
The mood was less enthusiastic in downtown Harare, an opposition stronghold. "He is not my president, why should I go?" asked one resident, Emmanuel Mazunda.
Zimbabwe's economy is in a tailspin. Analysts say Mnangagwa's immediate tasks should include solving severe cash shortages and high unemployment that has forced thousands of people into the streets as vendors. Millions of others have fled the country over the years.
The government badly needed a credible election to end its status as a global pariah, have international sanctions lifted and open the door to investment.
Final reports are pending from dozens of Western election observers invited for the first time in nearly two decades. Observers noted few issues on election day but expressed concern about the "excessive use of force" two days later, when six people were killed as the military swept into the capital to disperse protests.
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SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.
Thai officials said they did not agree to a ceasefire. Cambodia has not commented directly on Trump’s claim, but its defense ministry said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Trump's remarks didn't “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”
He said Trump’s characterization of a land mine explosion that wounded Thai soldiers as a “roadside accident” was inaccurate, and did not reflect Thailand's position that it was a deliberate act of aggression.
Sihasak said that Trump’s willingness to credit what may be “information from sources that deliberately distorted the facts” instead of believing Thailand hurt the feelings of the Thai people “because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region.”
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.
The Thai military acknowledged 15 of its troops died during the fighting, and estimated earlier this week that there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.
Trump, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announced on Friday an agreement to restart the ceasefire.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. Thai Prime Minister Anutin had, after his call with Trump, said he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and said peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.
The Thai foreign ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. Anutin's busy day on Friday included dissolving Parliament, so new elections could be held early next year.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in comments posted early Saturday morning, also made no mention of a ceasefire.
Hun Manet said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.”
“Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed," Hun Manet wrote.
Anwar later posted on social media that he was urging the two sides to implement a ceasefire on Saturday night. Cambodia's prime minister, also posting online, endorsed the initiative, which included having Malaysia and the United States help monitor it. However, Thai Prime Minister Anutin denied that his country was even in negotiations over the proposal.
Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are strictly military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.
BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles). These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.
However, the Thai army announced Saturday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had heard warning sirens and had been running toward a bunker for safety.
Thailand's navy was also reported by both sides' militaries to have joined the fighting on Saturday morning, with a warship in the Gulf of Thailand shelling Cambodia's southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side said the other opened fire first.
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Peck reported from Bangkok. Sopheng Cheang in Serei Saophoan, Cambodia, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A man sits in a tent as he takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee cooks soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
An evacuee tastes soup as she takes refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing from home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees cook food as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Children raise their hands while receiving donation from charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Evacuees wait to receive donation from local charity as they take refuge in Banteay Menchey provincial town, Cambodia, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, after fleeing homes following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Village security volunteers and resident run into shelter while the blasts sounded too close in Buriram province, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, following renewed border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
