"I will never, never sell my country. I will never, never, never surrender," Mugabe told members of his ZANU-PF party. "Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean, Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British."
He was cheered by flag-waving supporters at an annual three-day convention in Bindura, 60 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Harare, the capital. Some wore shirts printed with pictures of Mugabe's face and sang his praise: "Stay with us. We know you are our president."
Mugabe, 84, has ruled the country since its 1980 independence from Britain and refused to leave office following disputed elections in March.
He has faced renewed criticism amid a humanitarian crisis that has pushed thousands of Zimbabweans to the point of starvation and left 1,123 people dead from cholera since August. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have called for Mugabe to step down.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday that "last time the world checked, Zimbabwe belonged to the people of Zimbabwe."
"You know, again, it's a statement that I think sums up in a concise way what is at the root of Zimbabwe's problems," he said.
On Thursday, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs said questions about how much longer Zimbabwe can withstand hunger, disease and political stalemate before disintegrating ignore that "there is a complete collapse right now."
"We think that the person who has ruined the country ... that he needs to step down," Jendayi Frazer said.
Mugabe on Friday called Frazer a "little girl" and questioned which African countries "would have the courage" to order a military intervention. Most neighboring countries, including regional giant South Africa, are opposed to such an intervention.
"What the Americans want just now, is the removal of President Mugabe. But President Mugabe has been elected by his people and we have told them as we have told the Europeans that the only persons with the power to remove Robert Gabriel Mugabe are the people of Zimbabwe," he said.
Critics blame Mugabe's policies for the ruin of the once-productive nation. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for the economic meltdown, though the European Union and U.S. sanctions are targeted only at Mugabe and dozens of his clique with frozen bank accounts and travel bans.
Mugabe repeated charges that the European Union, former colonizer Britain and the United States were exaggerating the cholera epidemic to urge regime change.
"They just want to see Mugabe go. No wonder why they are making all these allegations of a cholera crisis and that Zimbabwe is collapsing," he said.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez spoke out in support of Mugabe on Friday, and Venezuela's Foreign Ministry said the health emergency should not be used by other countries to "politically destabilize" Zimbabwe's government.
Zimbabwe once had one of the best health care systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, most of its hospitals have been forced to close because they cannot afford medicine, equipment or wages.
