BINDURA, Zimbabwe, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- President Robert Mugabe says "Zimbabwe is mine" and is rejecting calls from African and other world leaders to step down.
Speaking Friday at the annual conference of his political party, ZANU-PF, in Bindura, Mugabe told supporters, "I will never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans," the BBC reported.
With British Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying Friday an unchecked cholera epidemic is triggering a disastrous health and economic breakdown in Zimbabwe, Mugabe dismissed international criticism of his government's handling of the outbreak as "a pack of lies."
"I won't be intimidated. Even if I am threatened with beheading, I believe this and nothing will ever move me from it: Zimbabwe belongs to us, not the British," he said.
The United Nations reported Thursday the cholera death toll had risen to 1,123, with 20,896 people infected, the BBC said.
