HARARE, (AFP) — Zimbabwe’s re-elected president, Robert Mugabe, took the oath of office yesterday, vowing to accelerate land reforms while exulting that the Zimbabwean people had triumphed over British neo-colonialism.

In a speech mixing jubilant exhortations with defiant jabs at the West, which has widely rejected the legitimacy of last week’s election, Mugabe also called for national unity and pledged to speed up land redistribution.

“We have dealt a stunning blow to imperialism,” the 78 year-old leader said at the swearing-in ceremony here.

By exercising “our sovereign right to determine our destiny”, the Zimbabwean people had said “loudly to those in Europe, no, no, never, never again shall Zimbabwe be a colony,” the liberation war hero said.

He accused former colonial power Britain, as he had throughout the acrimonious, violence-wracked campaign, of having sponsored his opponent, former labour leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, in the March 9-11 election.

The former union leader had been tipped to win in a free and fair election, but the polling was preceded by weeks of political violence, and the vote itself was marred by widespread irregularities documented by observers.

Immediately after Mugabe was declared the winner, Tsvangirai, 50, rejected the outcome, charging massive fraud.

His stance was backed by Britain, the European Union, the United States, local Zimbabwean observers, and — crucially — the Commonwealth observer team, which issued a categorical condemnation of the polls.

African countries, as well as the Organisation of African Union and the Southern African Development Community, have on the whole given the vote a clean bill of health, with few reservations.

Mugabe yesterday thanked his African supporters, who also rallied around him when a heated Commonwealth summit early this month deferred a decision on Zimbabwe, and dismissed the broad Western verdict that the election was irrevocably flawed.

“It’s only free and fair when we, … we who count much more than you, say that we have won,” Mugabe said.

He added: “In 1980 as we in Zimbabwe celebrated the advent of our independence, never did we imagine that we would once again have to wage another struggle, a fierce struggle” against neo-colonialism.

Central to that struggle has been land reform, which grabbed international headlines in early 2000 when Mugabe’ supporters began invading white-owned farms with his blessing and the collusion of the police.

Mugabe vowed yesterday to redouble efforts to correct the “monstrous colonial injustice” that saw the lion’s share of Zimbabwe’s fertile land controlled by a small minority of white farmers.

“The land reform programme must proceed with greater speed and strength.”

The aging leader also urged the people to “work joyously and collectively to reconstruct our economy in order to transform our society.”

Calling on Zimbabweans to “unite and come together to work for Zimbabwe as one people,” he said, “Our country beckons us to join hands in a formidable unity of purpose.”

The colourful ceremony was attended by staunch African allies of Mugabe, the presidents of Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi, with Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila arriving late.

But two others were conspicuous in their absence, South African and Nigerian presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo, who find themselves in a diplomatic bind over the scathing report on the election by the Commonwealth observer mission.

The pair are members of a “troika” appointed at the Commonwealth summit early this month, along with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who will meet in London tomorrow to decide whether the 54-member body should sanction Zimbabwe.

After skipping Mugabe’s inauguration, Mbeki and Obasanjo plan to come to Harare today when they will meet with the president to discuss the Commonwealth observers’ report.

Also absent yesterday were members of the European diplomatic corps who decided to boycott the ceremony.

Ahead of the poll, the EU imposed personal sanctions against Mugabe and his top aides, including an asset freeze and a travel ban, in a bid to push for a free and fair vote. The United States imposed similar sanctions.