Africa is riveted by the overnight drama that has left longtime Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in military custody.

Axar.az reports citing IOL that, many across the continent have known no other leader of the once-prosperous southern African nation but the 93-year-old Mugabe, the world's oldest head of state.

Here is a look at his more than three decades in power.

1980: Mugabe named prime minister after independence elections

1982: Military action begins in Matabeleland against perceived uprising; government is accused of killing thousands of civilians

1987: Mugabe changes the constitution and becomes president

1994: Mugabe receives honorary British knighthood

2000: Land seizures of white-owned farms begin; Western donors cut off aid

2005: The United States calls Zimbabwe an "outpost of tyranny"

2008: Mugabe and opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai agree to share power after the contested election; Britain's Queen Elizabeth II annuls Mugabe's honorary knighthood

2011: Prime Minister Tsvangirayi declares power-sharing a failure amid violence

2013: Mugabe wins the seventh term; opposition alleges election fraud

2016: #ThisFlag protest movement emerges; independence war veterans turn on Mugabe, calling him "dictatorial"

2017: Mugabe begins campaigning for 2018 elections

November 6: Mugabe fires deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa, appearing to position first lady Grace Mugabe for vice president post

November 15: Army announces it has Mugabe and his wife in custody as military appears to take control.