Mr. Ramos-Horta, who was shot in the back and stomach outside his home at dawn Monday, was in serious but stable condition in an Australian hospital on Tuesday. Mr. Gusmão, whose convoy was attacked an hour later, was unharmed. Under the state of emergency, a curfew was put in place from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and all public gatherings were prohibited. Dili, a ramshackle seaside city, remained calm on Tuesday. Street markets were crowded, and residents went about their business despite some apprehension over the repercussions of what government officials described as an attempt to derail East Timor’s fledgling democracy. Responding to concerns that the assassination attempts could provoke more violence in a country that has suffered repeated bloodshed in the nearly six years since it formally declared independence, Australia flew an additional 140 troops and 70 police officers into Dili to reinforce an international stabilization force of about 1,000 soldiers already there under a United Nations mandate. An Australian Navy frigate also sailed into the waters off the city. The international force and a United Nations police contingent were sent to East Timor in 2006 to quell widespread unrest.
The attacks on East Timor’s two most senior politicians underscored the huge challenge facing this impoverished country as it tries to overcome a long history of violence, build a sustainable economy and entrench democracy. In May, Mr. Ramos-Horta won a resounding mandate in presidential elections. He had won respect and shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for leading diplomatic efforts to end East Timor’s 24-year occupation by Indonesia and for his peacemaking efforts in numerous internal disputes. In the attack on Monday, he was shot three times outside his home in eastern Dili by about 10 rebels, according to East Timorese and United Nations officials. In an exchange of gunfire, the rebels’ commander, Alfredo Reinado, was killed. Mr. Reinado was a former military police officer who deserted in 2006 over a range of internal grievances in the army. The same group of rebels attacked Mr. Gusmão, East Timor’s first president, who was chosen as prime minister after parliamentary elections last July. Mr. Gusmão called the attacks a well-planned attempt to “paralyze the government and create instability. I consider this incident a coup attempt against the state by Reinado, and it failed,” Mr. Gusmão said, according to The Associated Press. “The government won’t fall because of this.”
Mr. Ramos-Horta, 58, underwent surgery for his gunshot wounds at an Australian military base in Dili on Monday morning before being placed on a ventilator in an induced coma and airlifted to a hospital in Darwin, in northern Australia. A doctor who treated him there said that his condition had stabilized by Tuesday after further surgery, but remained “extremely serious.” The wounds were to his chest and abdomen. As the hunt for the rebels continued Tuesday, questions arose over whether protection of the nation’s leaders had been adequate. United Nations officials said Mr. Ramos-Horta had insisted on being guarded only by members of the national police force. But the army chief, Brig. Taur Matan Rusk, demanded to know how such attacks could be mounted in Dili given the “high number of international forces present.” He called on the United Nations to appoint an international team to investigate the attacks. The United Nations deputy police commissioner in East Timor, Hermanprit Singh, said Tuesday that the East Timor and United Nations police forces had identified several individuals involved in the attacks through interviews with witnesses. President Bush condemned the violence, saying, “Those who are responsible must know that they cannot derail democracy.” The United Nations Security Council appealed for calm and urged the government to bring those responsible for the “heinous act” to justice.
By DONALD GREENLEES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Mozlink
Since July 7th 2007
