After 19 years in office, President Robert Mugabe is now among the top 50 oldest office holders in the world. According to a list compiled by Roberto Ortiz de Zarate, President Mugabe who was number 36 at the beginning of the year has gone two notches up following the death of King Hussein of Jordan and Isa ibn Sulman alKhalifah of Bahrain. He is now at number 34.
But 10 other African leaders are ahead of him. Top of the list is King Hassan II of Morocco who has been in office since March 3, 1961.
His only rival in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is beleaguered Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos who has been in power since September 21, 1979, who is number 10 among the African leaders. The African list reads as follows:
- King Hassan of Morocco since 3 March 1961
- Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo since 14 April 1969
- Omar Bongo of Gabon since 2 December 1967.
- Muammar al-Qadhafi of Libya since 1 September 1969.
- France Albert Rene of Seychelles since 5 June 1977.
- Gouled Hassan Aptidon of Djibouti (President) since 24 June 1977.
- Hamadou Barkat Gourad also of Djibouti (Prime Minister) since 30 September 1978.
- Daniel arap Moi of Kenya since 14 October 1978.
- Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea since 3 August 1979.
- Eduardo dos Santos of Angola since 21 September 1979.
- Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe since 18 April 1980.
Topping the list is King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in office since 9 June 1949. Apart from monarchs, President Fidel Castro of Cuba, who is overall number four, tops the list having been in power since 16 February 1959.
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