Maputo — Raul Domingos, the former head of the parliamentary group of Mozambique's main opposition party, Renamo, has confirmed that he is preparing to launch a new political party.
Speaking to AIM on Wednesday, shortly after a meeting with the German ambassador, Uls Klemm, to discuss his planned party, Domingos said everything was being done to launch it as soon as possible.
"We have been discussing the formation of a national party, and not a party that is restricted to its offices, as has been the practice with parties in our country", he said. He was confident that such a party could be a genuine alternative to the ruling Frelimo Party.
He said the founders of the new party are currently discussing draft statutes, and efforts to mobilise more members throughout the country.
"In due time we will inform the public of this party, and explain its political line, and its programme", he said.
Asked whether the new party would stand in this year's municipal elections, Domingos said he was not particularly concerned either with the local elections or with the 2004 presidential elections. What was most important, he said, was "to set up a cohesive, inclusive party which satisfies the interests of the entire Mozambican people".
Domingos said that one of the matters he had discussed with the German ambassador was the riotous scenes in the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in December when Renamo had tried, unsuccessfully, to expel Domingos and four other Renamo dissidents from parliament.
But when he does set up a new party, Domingos will have no choice but to vacate his parliamentary seat. Under the Assembly's standing orders, he can sit as an independent - but as soon as a deputy joins a party other than the one on whose lists he was elected, he loses his seat.
Domingos used to be regarded as the second most powerful figure in Renamo, it was he who led the Renamo team that negotiated the 1992 peace agreement with the government, and from 1994 to 1999 he led the Renamo parliamentary group.
But in 2000 he was accused of "betraying" Renamo, and was expelled from the Party. He subsequently set up a non- governmental organisation, the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPADE), long regarded as the seed for a future political party.
