Robert Mugabe has refused to stand down as President of Zimbabwe amid a tense standoff with the nation's military and after being sacked by his own party yesterday.

Key points: Mr Mugabe clings onto power, pledges to preside over party that dismissed him

Mr Mugabe clings onto power, pledges to preside over party that dismissed him Zimbabwe officials say they will follow through with plans to impeach Mr Mugabe

Zimbabwe officials say they will follow through with plans to impeach Mr Mugabe Mr Mugabe acknowledges anger but says Zimbabwe "cannot be guided by bitterness"

Mr Mugabe and his wife Grace were dismissed from their positions as ZANU-PF party leaders on Sunday, and officials gave Mr Mugabe a 24 hour deadline (9:00pm AEDT on Monday) to stand down.

But the 93-year-old leader defied expectations that he would step down during his televised address this morning, pledging to preside over future party meetings despite having been sacked.

The Central Committee of the ruling ZANU-PF party voted to dismiss Mr Mugabe as party leader at a meeting earlier on Sunday and said impeachment proceedings would begin if he does not resign by noon on Monday.

Mr Mugabe made no reference to the party moves against him, instead saying he would play a leading role in a party congress planned for December 12 to 17.

Sorry, this video has expired Zimbabweans in shock as Mugabe stays

"The [ZANU-PF's party] Congress is due to meet in a few weeks from now," Mr Mugabe said ahead of the deadline.

"I will preside over its processes which must not be pre-possessed by any acts calculated to undermine it or to compromise the outcomes in the eyes of the public."

Mr Mugabe acknowledged criticism against him from the Government, the military, and the public, but did not comment on the possibility of standing down.

"I am aware that many developments have occurred in the party [and] given the failings of the past and the anger this might have triggered in some quarters, such developments are quite understandable," Mr Mugabe said.

"However, we cannot be guided by bitterness or vengefulness, both of which would not make us any better party members or any better Zimbabweans."

'He has let the whole nation down'

Mr Mugabe meets with senior generals in Harare yesterday. ( AP )

What happens to Mugabe now? Robert Mugabe gave his speech after long meetings with the military and, having the military commanders sitting alongside him, it seems difficult to think the speech wouldn't have been approved or had some kind of agreement from the military. Yet it confounds the expectations of those wanting to move on Mr Mugabe. The ruling party said if Mr Mugabe didn't resign by noon, he would be impeached and now he said he was not going, so the trigger has been pulled. Impeachment is a three-stage process, they need a joint sitting of Parliament and to agree that Mr Mugabe hasn't been following the constitution, has been involved in serious conduct or is incapable. They will form a committee and come back to a joint sitting of parliament and to impeach the President. At that stage they need a two-thirds majority. We are looking at, at this stage, parliament coming back on Tuesday but things are changing and chopping. With the detailed nature of the impeachment process, is it possible to impeach the President and get it done before the party congress. If the impeachment goes ahead, automatically the vice-president becomes president. That isn't Emmerson Mnangagwa, he was sacked, but at the same time the party has selected him as the leader of the party. The leader of the party is not the leader of the government and the leader of the government is not a leader of the party. The military has read the public and the situation well until now. I don't know what their game plan is but a lot of people are confused and many Zimbabweans are surprised, shocked and disappointed by Mr Mugabe's speech. - By Africa correspondent Sally Sara

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was "baffled" by Mr Mugabe's defiant address to the nation.

"I am baffled. It's not just me, it's the whole nation," Mr Tsvangirai said.

"He's playing a game. He has let the whole nation down."

Zimbabwe officials said plans to impeach Mr Mugabe would now go ahead as scheduled after his refusal to stand down.

Chris Mutsvangwa, who has been leading a campaign to oust the President, told reporters moments after Mr Mugabe finished his speech that people would take to the streets of Harare.

After sacking Mr Mugabe as head of the ruling ZANU-PF party yesterday, the central committee named former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa as its new leader.

It was Mr Mugabe's sacking of Mr Mnangagwa as his vice-president earlier this month — to pave the way for his wife Grace to succeed him — that triggered the army's swift intervention.

Mr Mutsvangwa also implied Mr Mugabe, who spoke with a firm voice but occasionally lost his way in his script during the 20-minute address, was not aware of what had happened just hours earlier.

"Either somebody within ZANU-PF didn't tell him what had happened within his own party, so he went and addressed that meeting oblivious, or [he was] blind or deaf to what his party has told him," Mr Mutsvangwa said.

'Mugabe must step down for the younger generation'

Grace Mugabe has been expelled from ZANU-PF, while Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to become president. ( Reuters: Philimon Bulawayo, file )

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Harare to celebrate Mr Mugabe's downfall and hail a new era for their country.

Many heralded a "second liberation" and spoke of their dreams for political and economic change after two decades of deepening repression and hardship.

But the same crowds who eagerly watched Mr Mugabe's televised address said they felt let down by his defiance.

"The biggest thing we were expecting from the speech was for the president to step down," one man said.

"He must step down and leave this for the younger generation.

"We don't disagree that he has done a lot for the country but he must leave for the younger generation to carry on his legacy."

The huge crowds in Harare have given a quasi-democratic veneer to the army's intervention, backing its assertion that it is merely effecting a constitutional transfer of power, rather than a plain coup, which would risk a diplomatic backlash.

But some of Mr Mugabe's opponents are uneasy about the prominent role played by the military, and fear Zimbabwe might be swapping one army-backed autocrat for another, rather than allowing the people to choose their next leader.

Sorry, this video has expired Crowds celebrate on Saturday at news President Robert Mugabe's rule could end (Image: AP/Ben Curtis)

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