Robert Mugabe has attacked the prime minister head on, telling him to keep out of domestic issues in Zimbabwe.

In a scathing attack on Britain's "post-imperialism", he said: "Mr Blair, you keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe."

He warned that Zimbabwe had moved on beyond its colonial past.

"We are African we are not British or European," he said. "We are doing our best to sustain our environment in every way possible. We want to be friends and not enemies of other regions."

Delivering a speech which won applause from African delegations at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Mugabe mounted a stout defence of his land reform policy.

He accused the British government of seeking to control the white minority in Zimbabwe and accused white farmers of greed.

"We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood," he said.

Mugabe told the summit that the black majority were the rightful holders of land in his country but insisted that he would not deprive white farmers of land completely.

He said no farmer would be left without land - but called time on individuals who own 15 to 20 farms.

"No farmer is being left without land We are threatening no-one," said Mugabe.

The Zimbabwean president also called on the West to set Africa free from its past.

"Let Africans come as individuals not as puppets," he said.