Development without equality: an interview with Raul Domingos: we have to make sure that democracy is growing in a healthy way. If not, there's going to be a war between the poor who have political power and the rich, who have economic power. Practically speaking it will be as if we haven't done anything.

• Author: Slattery, Brian
• Position: Strong and weak states: cases of governance - Interview

In the 1930s, after decades of effort, Portugal assumed control of Mozambique, denying Mozambicans both economic opportunity and political representation. In response, three banned opposition groups formed the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in 1962, and succeeded in driving out the Portuguese in 1975. FRELIMO's promises of rapid development proved unrealistic, however: though some social services were created, its attempts at Marxist governance failed, and it soon became an overbearing and controlling state, facing its own opposition--the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO). Tension and violence between the two groups escalated into civil war in the mid-1980s, leading to the collapse of Mozambique's economy and one of the worst humanitarian disasters Africa had ever seen.

After several years of war that left the country in ruins, both parties realized that they could not win, and peace accords were signed in 1992. Mozambique's first democratic elections were held in 1994. Despite the failure of its earlier programs, FRELIMO won 44 percent of the vote; despite the brutality of some of its military campaigns, RENAM0 won 38 percent. Subsequent elections have yielded similar results, and today, FRELIMO continues to enjoy a slim majority in the government, with RENAMO as its main opposition group.

Meanwhile, economic and social conditions in Mozambique have seen improvements. The year 1996 saw macroeconomic stability as inflation was brought somewhat under control. The government is currently embarking on robust regulatory and institutional reforms, including privatization initiatives. Education and health care services have been partially restored since the end of the war, and economic activity--from agriculture to mining to energy production--has resumed. A stock market has been established, and the country has attracted substantial foreign investment and development aid, with the promise of more to come. All of this contributes to average GDP growth rates of 10 percent, expected to continue into the near future. Having maintained political stability and impressive economic improvements for over a decade, Mozambique is currently held up as an African success story.

However, these overall indicators may mask deeper, complicated problems. The EIU claims that FRELIMO and RENAMO are defined at this point not so much by ideological differences as by mutual hostility. Charges of corruption are rampant, and despite economic growth, most Mozambicans still live in rural poverty. For Raul Domingos, long the unofficial second-in-command of RENAMO, the poverty, obvious inequality, and lack of meaningful political representation for average Mozambicans represents not only a failure of the government, but a threat to stability. When JIA interviewed him, he was in the planning stages of creating a third party to break what he saw as a political stalemate between FRELIMO and RENAMO. As of this writing, those efforts are still under way.

Domingos: During the first elections, I was the leader of the parliamentary group for RENAMO. So all the Mozambicans knew my ideas, they knew my position. They are now coming to join me because they no longer agree with RENAMO. The...