AFP - President Robert Mugabe on Friday told his ruling ZANU-PF party that "Zimbabwe is mine", adding he would never surrender and that he was not intimidated by calls to step down.

"I will never, never, never never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British, Britain for the British," Mugabe told his party's annual conference.

The veteran leader said he would remain until "his people decide to change him."

Mugabe also denounced Western governments who have been stepping up their criticism of his regime since the outbreak of cholera in the country, which according to UN figures has so far killed more than 1,100 people.

"What a pack of lies," he said, saying that Zimbabwe was facing a war with former colonial power Britain, supported by the United States and Europe.

"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 also commented on deadlocked talks to form a unity government with Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a smaller MDC splinter faction.

"I don't know whether this inclusive government is going to work or not. I have sent letters inviting the two so that I can swear them in," said Mugabe.

But he warned that they would wait in vain to see his regime collapse.

"My view is that those who run the MDC have given the MDC the impression that Zimbabwe is collapsing. 'Let it collapse and the leadership will vanish and you take over,'" he said.

"If they want to wait they can wait. That day will never come."