State of emergency in East Timor after president is shot

EAST TIMOR President Jose Ramos-Horta was shot and seriously wounded yesterday by rebel soldiers in an assassination attempt that plunged the fledgling nation into a fresh crisis.

The Nobel peace laureate was airlifted to Australia for emergency treatment after being shot in a dawn gunbattle at his residence in which rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killed, said Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

Gunmen also targeted the home of Mr Gusmao in co-ordinated attacks that prompted a state of emergency in the fragile nation, where international forces remain on patrol after being deployed amid unrest in 2006. After exploratory surgery at an Australian military hospital in Dili, the 58-year-old president was rushed to the Australian city of Darwin for emergency medical treatment.

“I am hopeful for his full recovery,” said Royal Darwin Hospital general manager Len Notaras after seeing Mr Ramos-Horta, adding he had been struck by up to three bullets. “The fact that he is in a stable condition is a good sign that we should see some reasonable outcomes for him... He is not fighting for his life but his injuries are extremely serious,” said the doctor.

Mr Ramos-Horta suffered two bullet wounds to the upper chest and one to the abdomen, said Mr Notaras adding that the president was heavily sedated but not on life support.

“He is in the process of recovery and is out of danger,” said parliamentary speaker Fernando de Araujo while on a visit to Lisbon.

Meanwhile, Mr Gusmao declared that a state of emergency would be in force for at least 48 hours, with a curfew beginning at 8pm (11am GMT) and people were to be banned from conducting meetings or rallies. An AFP correspondent said streets were deserted, shops and kiosks shuttered barring a few hotels, and Portuguese troops on patrol on several roads.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked and dismayed” over the attack and urged the nation’s one million people to remain calm.

Mr Gusmao vowed to restore stability in a press briefing broadcast live on television and radio.

Mr Ramos-Horta was the troubled nation’s international voice during the two decades of Indonesian occupation and his efforts to bring peace to his homeland earned him a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.