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Horta is the front-runner

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Peace Prize winner for his role in tiny East Timor's independence movement, on Saturday emerged as a front-runner for the post of Prime Minister. Though Mr. Ramos Horta does not belong to the ruling Fretilin party, he came into reckoning as a possible interim leader and as a longer-term candidate too. Fretilin has been hit by a power struggle between the charismatic President Xanana Gusmao and Mari Alkatiri, who quit as Prime Minister earlier in the week over allegations that he used strong-arm methods to silence his political opponents. Mr. Alkatiri is widely blamed for the security-and-humanitarian crisis that followed the dismissal of "rebel soldiers." International peacekeepers, led by Australia, are now policing East Timor, and Mr. Ramos Horta, who negotiated their mandate, is being considered for the top post.

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