The number two of a former Mozambique rebel movement is to form a political party to contest next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, the ex peace negotiator said on Friday.
”The process is irreversible because we came to the conclusion that there is a need for a third major political force,” said Raul Domingos.
Domingos also headed the parliamentary group of the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) until his expulsion about three years ago at the height of a political dispute between Renamo and the governing Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) over the 1999 poll results.
He set up the Democratic Institute for Peace and Development shortly after his sacking.
”We are forming a political party that will fill up a vaccum between Renamo and Frelimo”, said Domingos, expelled by Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama for allegedly holding secret contacts with Frelimo during the political crisis over Dhlakama’s rejection of the 1999 general election results.
Domingos led the Renamo team during two years of peace talks with the Mozambican government in Rome, which culminated with the signing of a peace accord in late 1992 that ended 16 years of civil war in the southern African state.
Mozambique has about 15 small opposition parties, but they have failed to win much support in an environment of tension between the two main parties.
In 1999, at least 10 small parties were forced to ally with Renamo to secure some seats in parliament. Domingos said if chosen to lead his future party, he will run in
the presidential elections, also to be contested by Dhlakama and his former peace negotiator and parliamentary counterpart, Armando Guebuza.
Guebuza, an independence war veteran and former government minister is currently the secretary general of Frelimo and to succeed president Joaquim Chissano relinquishing power at the end of his second term in late 2004. – Sapa-AFP