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Ramos-Horta recalls rebel attack

"On the way to the heliport I fell off the chair a few times because there were no belts."

Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timorese president

East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was discharged from hospital yesterday, choked back tears as he recalled the day rebel soldiers shot him in an assassination attempt.

Emerging after five weeks in hospital in the northern Australian city of Darwin, Ramos-Horta offered an emotional thank-you to the medical staff who helped him survive the Feb. 11 attack.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was by turns sombre and jocular as he spoke to staff at the Royal Darwin Hospital, telling them: "I thank you for all your kindness."

Looking drawn after weeks of treatment which included six operations and 10 days in a medically induced coma, Ramos-Horta rejected the offer of a wheelchair and walked gingerly to his meeting with about 25 doctors and nurses in the hospital's intensive care unit.

The 58-year-old said details of the morning he was attacked outside his home in Dili were seared into his memory.

"I remember every detail from the moment I was shot -- I remember everything," he said.

"The ambulance ... a very old battered ambulance. No paramedic. A Portuguese special police unit, GNR ... luckily it had a paramedic who jumped in the ambulance and gave me the first assistance. On the way to the heliport I fell off the chair a few times because there were no belts," Ramos-Horta said.

"I remember even though I was bleeding I was holding on tight and I was telling the driver `Go slow!'" he said. "But maybe he was wise because it was only a matter of minutes for me to arrive there. And then I arrived here in your hands -- I thank all of you."

Ramos-Horta then fought back tears and put his hands to his face, appearing unable to speak for about 20 seconds.

The East Timorese leader also managed to joke with staff, telling one doctor that he initially mistook him for a rock star because of his long hair and handing out Timor coffee with a playful warning about its "strong Viagra content."

He handed hospital manager Len Notaras a picture of Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pontiff had prayed for him after he was shot. Notaras replied that the Vatican had phoned after he arrived, inquiring about his condition.

"You have made a difference to our lives with your courage and capacity to move on," Notaras said.

Ramos-Horta was airlifted to the Royal Darwin Hospital hours after the assassination attempt and stayed there until March 3, when he was moved to the nearby Darwin Private Hospital.

Outside the hospital, he told reporters: "My message to my people is please forgo violence and hatred with weapons, machetes, with arson -- we only destroy each other and the country."

He said he would stay in Australia for a few more weeks for follow-up treatment but assured East Timorese he would return home soon.

"There are so many thousands of people in Timor -- the bishops, the priests, the nuns, the common people who have prayed for me," he said. "I thank all of my people. I will be back soon."

The East Timorese government has imposed a curfew in Dili since the attack. On that same day, rebels ambushed a convoy carrying East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, but he escaped unharmed.
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