HARARE Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who put land right back on the agenda when he was sworn back into office Sunday, is set on plans to resettle blacks on farms owned by the nation's tiny white minority, AFP reported.

Colonialism's legacy left about 4,500 white farmers owning most of the southern African nation's best farmland, representing about a quarter of its entire land mass.

"The land reform program must proceed with greater speed and strength," Mugabe said at his inauguration, vowing to redouble efforts to correct a "monstrous colonial injustice".

When independence came in 1980, part of the deal handing power from the white-minority Rhodesian leaders to the black majority called for resettling black Zimbabweans on lands that European settlers had confiscated since 1890.

But a combination of reluctance on the part of white farmers and lack of motivation within the government resulted in little progress on land reforms during the first 20 years of independence.

By 1989, 2.7 million hectars (6.7 million acres) of land had been purchased from commercial areas and resettled with 52,000 families, which was far below the planned resettlement population of 162,000 families.

The area of land under the control of whites was reduced from 42 percent to 29 percent, according to research by lead international, a London-based organization focusing on sustainable development.

In 1998, donors -- mainly Britain and the United States -- agreed to provide millions of dollars to buy land from whites for resettlement.