ZIMBABWE’S president Robert Mugabe baffled the country last night by ending his address on national television without announcing his resignation.

The ruling party’s Central Committee had hours earlier told him to resign as president by noon today or face impeachment proceedings tomorrow.

Zimbabweans gathered in expectation of a celebration.

Instead, Mugabe appeared to hint at challenging the ruling party, which has expelled him as its leader, by trying to stay on.

He made a reference to presiding over a party congress next month.

“The congress is due in a few weeks from now.

“I will preside over its processes, which must not be possessed by any acts calculated to undermine it or compromise the outcomes in the eyes of the public,” he said.

Officials close to the talks between Mugabe and the military had said the president would resign.

Mugabe noted the political turmoil that led to his military house arrest and expulsion as ruling party leader.

“From tonight ... the nation at all levels gets refocused,” he said.

He said that “failures of the past” may have triggered anger in some quarters, which he calls “quite understandable”.

He also notes that “intergenerational conflict must be resolved”, a reference to his apparent positioning of his unpopular 52-year-old wife to succeed him.

Mugabe is 93 and had been backed by fellow veterans of the country’s liberation war, until they turned against him.

Nick Mangwana, the UK representative of the ruling party Zanu-PF, expects Mugabe to be impeached by the end of the week.

He told the BBC that Mugabe “is going to fight to the death.

“He can’t do it [resign] himself, we have to do it for him.”

Senior figures in Zimbabwe’s ruling party stood and cheered as an official chairing the emergency meeting announced plans to remove Mugabe.

Obert Mpofu said Zanu-PF’s Central Committee members were met with “a heavy heart” because Mugabe had served the country and contributed to “many memorable achievements”.

But Mpofu said Mugabe’s wife “and close associates have taken advantage of his frail condition” to loot national resources.

Mugabe met yesterday with the army commander who put him under house arrest in a second round of talks on his departure after nearly 40 years in power.

Mugabe’s talks with army commander Constantino Chiwenga are the second round of negotiations on an exit as the military tries to avoid accusations of a coup.

Zimbabwean officials have not revealed details of the talks, but the military appears to favour a voluntary resignation by Mugabe to maintain a veneer of legality in the political transition.

Mugabe, in turn, could be using whatever leverage he has left to try to preserve his legacy as one of Africa’s liberation leaders or even protect himself and his family from possible prosecution.

Chris Mutsvangwa, head of the country’s liberation war veterans, said he was concerned the military could end up opening fire to protect Mugabe from protesters. He vowed to “bring back the crowd” if the president did not step aside.

“We would expect that Mugabe would not have the prospect of the military shooting at people, trying to defend him,” Mutsvangwa said.

The negotiations come ahead of a key ruling party congress next month, as well as scheduled elections next year.

On Saturday, most of Harare’s population of 1.6 million poured into the streets for a demonstration that just days ago would have brought a police crackdown.