Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe bitterly attacked former colonial ruler Britain on Friday in his first major speech since disputed elections, saying London was paying the population to turn against him.

Mugabe, 84, told 15,000 cheering supporters in a fiery address to mark independence day: "Down with the British. Down with thieves who want to steal our country."

In a stream of insults against Britain, Mugabe added: "Today they are like thieves fronting their lackeys among us, which they give money to confuse our people."

Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, is under heavy international pressure over a delay in releasing results from the March 29 presidential election, which the opposition says was won by its leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In a new setback for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the Harare High Court on Friday rejected its bid to prevent a partial election recount on Saturday.

The recount, of 23 out of 210 constituencies, could overturn the MDC's win in the parliamentary vote, when Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of the assembly for the first time. The court had previously rejected an MDC bid to force authorities to release the result of the presidential vote.

Mugabe, brushing aside the international pressure, struck a familiar theme in his speech, painting Britain and not the MDC as the real enemy.

"Today they have perfected their tactics to a more subtle form by using money literally to buy some people to turn against their government. We are being bought like livestock," he said.

The former guerrilla commander received a rousing welcome from his supporters at Gwanzura stadium in Highfield, a restive opposition stronghold on the edge of the capital Harare. The carnival atmosphere in the stadium contrasted with the poverty outside, where the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy and the world's worst hyper-inflation have forced residents to contend with shortages of water and food, and 80 percent unemployment.

Critics accuse Mugabe of wrecking a once-prosperous country.

The delay in issuing the presidential result has provoked a chorus of criticism including from the United States and the ruling party in neighbouring South Africa.

The MDC accuses Mugabe of unleashing loyal militias to help him rig victory in an expected runoff against Tsvangirai.

DEFIANCE

Mugabe said the government had intervened to stop independence war veterans from taking up arms against white farmers who were trying to reoccupy land which he has confiscated.

"Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. Never shall we retreat," said Mugabe, wearing a dark suit and tie and speaking mostly in the local Shona language.

After a few days when he seemed badly wounded by the election, Mugabe - backed by his military and hardliners in the cabinet - has returned to his normal brash defiance.

Security forces paraded in the stadium before his speech and large posters denounced the opposition and Britain.

The British embassy in Harare issued a statement on Friday saying it was increasingly concerned "at reports of beatings and violence being unleashed against electoral officials and opposition supporters".

Both U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday called for more action from Africa to end the post-election deadlock in Zimbabwe.

African reaction has been subdued and the continent has largely taken its cue from South African President Thabo Mbeki, attacked both at home and abroad for insisting on a softly softly diplomatic approach to Mugabe.

South African unions have been among the sharpest critics of Mbeki's policy. Shipyard workers are refusing to unload arms headed for landlocked Zimbabwe from a Chinese ship docked in the east coast port of Durban.

Randall Howard, General Secretary of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union said Mugabe might use the weapons against his opponents.

"The South African government cannot be seen as propping up a military regime," he told Reuters.

Tsvangirai called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to sack Mbeki as its chief mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis. But SADC chair Zambia said on Friday only a full summit of the body could make such a decision.