"There was loud applause from some sections of the audience as Mugabe spoke to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg," reports Sky News - but only Daily Summit is telling you that journalists laughed and clapped too...

Robert Mugabe - hero of WSSD! Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, finished speaking to the World Summit a few minutes ago.

"We shall not deprive the white farmers of land completely," Mr Mugabe said. "They are entitled to one farm, but they want more - 15, 25 or 30 farms for each person."

Mr Mugabe won applause from delegates when he promised to shed blood for the protection of Zimbabwe's independence and, again, when he added "Blair, keep your England, but let us keep our Zimbabwe."

This latter remark was also rewarded with laughter and applause from many of the listening journalists - and there was more applause in the media centre when the President finished speaking.

Mr Mugabe is the 47th Head of State to speak today, but the first to provoke any audible response from the World Summit's media.

Dr Sam Nujoma, President of Namibia, has accused rich countries of "creating AIDS" and demanded they spend more money on research to find a solution to the epidemic.

Speaking just before Tony Blair, he has denounced the British campaign for sanctions against Zimbabwe and called - to applause from the floor - for sanctions against the country to be lifted immediately.

Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho, meanwhile, has praised the growth of democracy around the world, and credited Lesotho's experiment with democracy for bringing peace and stability to his country. Famine is now challenging Southern Africa, he said, appealing for more development assistance.