East Timor leaders discuss candidates for PM job

East Timor’s leaders were trying to decide on a new prime minister today following the resignation of Mari Alkatiri, raising hopes for an end to months of political paralysis and violence in Asia’s newest nation.

President Xanana Gusmao’s closed-door meeting with the Council of State, an advisory board of 12 ministers, was expected to last all day in Dili and it was not clear whether they would agree on a replacement.

“These things usually take time,” said presidential spokesman Agio Pereira

Alkatiri is also battling allegations that he armed a hit squad to silence political opponents, and an official in his office today said he had been summoned by Prosecutor-General Longuinhos Monteiro for questioning.

Many East Timorese say Alkatiri’s dismissal of 600 disgruntled soldiers in March was to blame for street battles and gang warfare that left at least 30 people dead in the worst violence to hit East Timor since it voted for independence from Indonesia seven years ago.

When chaos in East Timor’s seaside capital reached its height last month, homes were torched and machete-wielding youths went door-to-door to carry out personal vendettas, sending nearly 150,000 people fleeing from their homes.

Violence ebbed with the arrival of a 2,700-strong foreign peacekeeping mission and a UN team of experts landed in Dili yesterday to see what kind of support the world body could provide – including a promised long-term security presence.

One politician urged the United Nations to take over the reins of power, as it did for two year’s after East Timor’s independence vote, saying the security forces needed to be reformed, democratic institutions rebuilt and confidence in the government restored.

“We are not ready to do it ourselves,” said Angela Freitas, who heads the opposition Labour Party. “No matter the results of the Council of State, no matter the new Cabinet, it’s not going to fix the problem.”

Alkatiri, who faced massive street demonstrations calling for his ouster, finally agreed to stand down yesterday, saying he wanted to avoid the resignation of Gusmao, who had threatened to quit if the prime minister did not.

Gusmao, who is revered throughout East Timor for leading its armed resistance to Indonesian rule, accepted the resignation effective immediately and began deliberations on the country’s political future.

It is up to Alkatiri’s ruling Fretilin party to nominate a prime minister, who must be asked by Gusmao to form a new government.

At least four names were being considered – including health minister Rui Maria Araujo and minister of state Ana Pessoa – but another likely candidate is Jose Ramos-Horta, the country’s Nobel prize winning foreign minister.

Though Ramos-Horta is a close friend of the president, he has expressed reservations about the job and some members of Fretilin said he may not be able to win the party’s backing.

Thousands of people took to the streets yesterday to celebrate Alkatiri’s downfall, many demanding that he play no more role in the politics after he offered to help set up a transitional government.

Though he said he knew nothing about the alleged hit squads, a close ally, the former interior minister Rogerio Lobato, is facing charges for allegedly arming civilian militias at his request.

The charges are being investigated by police and UN-funded prosecutors.

Monteiro, the prosecutor general, told the Australian Associated Press that Alkatiri would appear before him on Friday. When asked whether the outgoing prime minister would face charges, he said it was too early to say.

“We will see what the answers are that the prime minister will give,” he said.