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East Timor President wounded in attack; Premier escapes ambush

SINGAPORE: East Timor plunged into a major political crisis on Monday after President Jose Ramos-Horta was critically wounded in a pre-dawn attack on his residence in Dili, the capital, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao narrowly escaped unhurt in a separate attempt on his life.

By nightfall, Mr. Ramos-Horta, who was shifted to a hospital in Darwin (Australia) after an emergency surgery in Dili, was in a “stable” condition, although doctors expressed “some concern” about his chest injuries. He was wounded in the stomach as well. The treatment for this was described as relatively “straight forward.”

Timorese military authorities earlier said Alfredo Reinado, an army-deserter-turned-rebel-leader, who launched the attack on the Prime Minister’s residence, was killed by the security forces in the shoot-out for shielding Mr. Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Laureate. Another rebel was also killed in the exchange of fire, while a soldier was wounded.

Mr. Gusmao was ambushed in Dili shortly thereafter as he was travelling by road. He said rebels shot at the driver and tyres of the vehicle and he managed to escape. He later proclaimed a state of emergency to tide over the crisis.

Mr. Gusmao, a charismatic guerilla-activist-turned-politician, had led the country’s struggle for independence from Indonesia. Voting for freedom in a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1999, East Timor, then a previously-annexed province of Indonesia, gained independence about three years later.

Following Monday’s events in Dili, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged to “stand resolutely behind East Timor at this time of crisis in their democracy.” Australia has been providing direct military assistance to the defence forces of that tiny neighbouring state and also extending support to the United Nations Integrated Mission in East Timor (UNMIT).

Reinado, a fugitive at the time the security forces killed him, was the mastermind behind the revolt in the army in 2006. He deserted, along with several hundred soldiers, and was later arrested. But he escaped from prison and eluded capture by the international and local forces.

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