Being a brutal dictator must be tiring, especially when you’re 92.

And so it transpired at a news conference in Tokyo earlier this week, when Zimbawean leader Robert Mugabe appeared to fall asleep while standing up.

Japanese president Shinzo Abe looked distinctly unimpressed.

It has prompted calls for the ailing dictator to step down.

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Mugabe asleep
He looks like he’s nodding off (Picture: Reuters)

In a scathing piece in The Zimbabwean, Settlement Chikwinya, from the opposition People’s Democratic Party, wrote: ‘The man and his age have become the favourite butt-end of jokes and snide remarks in embassies and every gathering of diplomats.

‘Even little children now recognise Mugabe as a fossil, which is slowly decomposing to the chagrin and embarrassment of the state.

‘We thus call on Mugabe to do the right thing and resign.’