HARARE, Zimbabwe ? Former military chief Gen. Solomon Mujuru, one of Zimbabwe's main political power brokers and the husband of the vice president, has died in a fire at one of his homes, the nation's army commander said Tuesday. Mujuru was 62.
His death is likely to intensify turmoil in President Robert Mugabe's party over the question of who will succeed the 87-year-old president.
Mujuru's wife, Joice Mujuru, leads a powerful faction in Mugabe's party and counted on the support of her husband, who still commanded loyalty in the military after heading it for more than a decade after independence in 1980.
The general retired to take up business and acquired an empire of farms, properties, mines and other interests that made him one of wealthiest and most influential political figures in the top echelons of Mugabe's party and its policymaking politburo.
The vice president and her supporters in the party are chief rivals to Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and his followers, who have been vying for supremacy in the party should the ailing president die or retire.
Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, the current military chief, told state radio he visited a farm some 35 miles (55 kilometers) southwest of Harare where Mujuru died during the night when the farmhouse caught fire.
Family members and friends said earlier that an electrical fault may have ignited the blaze.
"The way he has gone is difficult to comprehend. He was such a fine fighter," Chiwenga said of the former guerrilla leader who helped sweep Mugabe into power at independence in 1980.
State radio said Mujuru's wife also visited the farm where its reporter saw the building razed to the ground and police said Mujuru's body was "burned beyond recognition."
Police said a worker at the house told them Mujuru went to bed and neighbors were awakened later as fire swept through the house, state radio reported. Police told state radio that Mujuru had evidently tried to escape but was overwhelmed by flames and smoke.
No response was immediately available from Mugabe's party or his office.
Mugabe has acknowledged deep divisions in his party and has said he cannot leave office until he has resolved them and unified the party ahead of elections. He wants a vote to end a shaky coalition with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his longtime opponent.
The coalition was brokered by regional leaders after disputed and violent elections in 2008.
Mugabe is scheduled to attend a summit of regional presidents this week in Angola, at which the Zimbabwe political crisis is high on the agenda. Regional leaders have recently taken a firmer stance against violence and other obstacles to democratic reforms blamed on Mugabe and his party leaders.
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