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Ramos-Horta denies he is considering resignation

East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, right, accompanied by Military Chief Taur Matan Ruak during a security inspection at the residence of President Ramos Horta in Dili, East Timor, on Tuesday. PHOTO: EPA

East Timor’s president denied he was considering resigning after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt two months ago, saying his tiny, troubled nation still needs him.

President Jose Ramos-Horta, 58, has been recuperating in the northern Australian city of Darwin since being shot twice by mutinous soldiers in front of his home in East Timor’s capital, Dili. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped an ambush on his motorcade the same day.

The motive of the attacks, which followed more than a year of political turmoil and violence, remained unclear.

Ramos-Horta told East Timor’s national television and radio late on Tuesday that his health was improving and that he was preparing to return home. But he denied media reports saying he could step down before his five-year term expires in 2012.

“My beloved East Timor people, please believe that I have never thought about resigning,” the Nobel laureate said in a telephone interview. “I will faithfully perform my duties and functions as the president of the republic when I return.”

He said many people in his desperately poor country of 1 million, including church leaders and government officials, wanted him to remain in his post.

“I can’t betray their trust,” said Ramos-Horta, adding that some media outlets had misinterpreted an interview he had given to the Australian newspaper about his political future.

“I only said ‘IF one day I want to resign, I would have to consult with our two bishops, our people and our parliament,’” he said.

East Timor broke from decades of often brutal Indonesian rule in 1999 in a referendum that was sponsored by the UN.

Three years later, it became Asia’s newest nation, but the euphoria quickly evaporated amid the challenges of governing a divided, impoverished people.

The attempts on the lives of Ramos-Horta — who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to the Indonesian occupation — and Gusmao marked a sudden escalation in a bitter dispute between the government and several hundred ex-soldiers.

The troops were fired in 2006 after going on strike to protest alleged discrimination.
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