Robert Mugabe: a life in pictures

October 1976: Zimbabwe African National Congress leader Robert Mugabe with Zimbabwe Opposition leader Joshua Nkomo, right Photograph: Nayar/AP

March 1980: Smiling happily, Robert Mugabe, Rhodesian President Designate and his Ghanaian wife, Sally, hold hands in the rose garden of their Salisbury bungalow, Zimbabwe, during a brief interlude between continuous business visits as Mugabe worked at forming a Government following his party's landslide electoral victory Photograph: Louise Gubb/AP

18 April 1980: Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe President Canaan Banana attend the ceremony for the independence of Zimbabwe in Salisbury, Zimbabwe Photograph: William Campbell/Sygma/Corbis

1980: Robert Mugabe, leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front' (ZANU-PF) emerges from exile at Harare Fields Photograph: Brian Harris/Rex Features

May 1986: Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Robert Mugabe leaves the scene of the African National Congress offices that were bombed by a South African commando in Harare Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

1986: Zimbabwean prime minister Robert Mugabe walks hand in hand with American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson during the eighth Summit of Non-Aligned Countries, hosted in Harare Photograph: Patrick Durand/Sygma/Corbis

March 1996: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe talks at a news conference in Pretoria, South Africa. Mugabe flew to Johannesburg, to meet President Nelson mandela, right, on regional issues, after casting his vote in Harare to extend his 16-year rule. Mugabe denied he ran a dictatorship Photograph: Adil Bradlow/AP

1997: Prime Minister Tony Blair and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe hold bilateral talks at the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh Photograph: Gerry Perry/PA

December 2003: A Zimbabwean reads a copy of the state-owned newspaper, The Herald, in Harare announcing President Robert Mugabe's pullout from the Commonwealth Photograph: AP

March 2005: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace arrive at a parliamentary election rally in Chivu Photograph: Howard Burditt/Reuters

April 2005: Zimbabwe children hold cards making up a portrait of President Robert Mugabe during the 25th anniversary of independence celebrations at the National Sports Stadium in the capital Harare Photograph: Howard Burditt/Reuters

July 24 2005: Robert Mugabe closes his eyes during the Africa Union meeting in Sirte, Libya Photograph: Radu Sigheti/Corbis

April 2008: A Zimbabwean holds a newly issued fifty million dollar note at a street traders stand in the capital Harare. The country is suffering a severe economic and political crisis with official inflation figures at over 100,000 per cent. The new note is worth the equivalent of three loaves of bread Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters

May 2008: Opposition party MDC supporters from the rural south of the country show their broken limbs from an assault in the capital Harare. There is a massive campaign of violence against opposition supporters following the disputed election held in March Photograph: Howard Burditt/Reuters

June 2008: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is sworn in for a sixth term in office in Harare, after being declared the winner of a one-man election. The 84-year-old was declared the overwhelming winner of a presidential election run-off which was boycotted by opposition leader and first-round winner Morgan Tsvangirai Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

September 2008: Zimbabwean MDC breakaway faction leader Arthur Mutambara, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, opposition's leader Morgan Tsvangirai and South African Thabo Mbeki pose after signing the power-sharing accord in Harare. Mbeki said the region and Africa had to extend a helping hand to Zimbabwe and that getting seeds, fertiliser and fuel to the country was a matter of urgency Photograph: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images

November 2008: Tendai Mutevera looks for food in a birds nest in Doma, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's economy is in crisis, and a political deadlock has left the nation without a functioning government since disputed elections in March Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

November 2008: A man pushes his relative in a wheelbarrow to a cholera polyclinic, where victims of cholera are being treated in Harare, Zimbabwe.The nationwide outbreak, caused by a breakdown in basic water and sanitation services, has infected more than 6,000 people Photograph: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images

February 2009: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, left, head of the Movement for Democratic Change is sworn in by President Robert Mugabe at the State House in Harare. His swearing-in will cap nearly a year of turmoil that began in March 2008, when Tsvangirai won a first-round presidential vote that was greeted with nationwide political violence, mostly against his supporters Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

March 2010: Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, at a Meet the Press session in Harare. Mugabe held a meeting with editors of the state and independent, media for the first time in over 10 years Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

October 2011: The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams meets with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe at the State House in Harare, Zimbabwe, . The Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has been divided since breakaway Bishop Nolbert Kunonga's excommunication in 2007. He has taken over the main cathedral, schools and the church's bank accounts. The Archbishop and Mugabe are expected to discuss an end to the disruptions Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

March 2013: Mugabe and his wife Grace defy an EU travel ban to attend the Inauguration Mass for Pope Francis in St Peter's Square Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images