A look at Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's long rule

CTV National News: What happens to Mugabe? Zimbabwe's embattled President Mugabe was seen in public, but it remains to be seen what will happen to the leader. Paul Workman reports.

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

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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 constitution and becomes president

1994: Mugabe receives honorary British knighthood

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

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

2008: Mugabe and opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirayi agree to share power after 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 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

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

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