Opening on Saturday in Zanzibar a three day international conference on democracy and development, he noted that societies must democratise but the process should be within the context of a given country.

We in Africa must look with justified suspicion at those who come to us with one standard format for democracy and try to impose it on us equally, Chissano told the conference attended by Zanzibari President Salmoun Amour.

He said democracy was a process which starts from a point of less democracy to more democracy.

Societies should not be forced to jump overnight from one stage of democracy to the other without taking into consideration how ready those societies are to make that jump, he added.

He said most countries in Africa were ridden with poverty and under development hence facing various difficulties in defining priorities between going hungry and observing the democratic principles.

Chissano said democracy and development had to move hand in hand if any meaningful and sustainable results were to be achieved.

July 6, 1997
Source: Newswire