Shot East Timor's leader flown to Australian hospital
The president of East Timor was seriously ill in an Australian hospital today after being shot during a failed coup.
The attack on President Jose Ramos-Horta and another against his prime minister were a striking reminder of the bitter rivalries beneath the surface in Asia’s newest nation and could trigger more unrest and political turmoil in coming days, analysts said.
Neighbouring Australia immediately announced it would send more police and troops to help keep peace in the desperately poor country, which won independence from Indonesia in 2002.
President Ramos-Horta, who won a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent resistance to the decades-long Indonesian occupation, was shot in the chest and stomach in the attack on his home in the seaside capital of Dili by gunmen who arrived in two cars around dawn.
The 58-year-old was operated on in East Timor before being sedated, attached to a ventilator to help him breath and then airlifted to a hospital in the northern Australian city of Darwin.
Dr Len Notaros, the general manager of Royal Darwin Hospital, said Mr Ramos-Horta had serious chest injuries and an abdominal injury and medics were concerned the president still had bullet fragments in his body.
Notaros said the next two or three days would be crucial, but that “we would be hopeful of a very good recovery.”
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped unhurt after a separate rebel attack on his motorcade an hour after the president was targeted.
Fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado and one of his men were killed in the attack on the home of Ramos-Horta, while one of the president’s guards also died, an army spokesman said.
“I consider this incident a coup attempt against the state by Reinado and it failed,” Mr Gusmao said. He called it a well-planned operation intended to paralyse the government and create instability.“
“This government won’t fall because of this,” he said.
Reinado was among 600 mutinous soldiers dismissed by the government in 2006 in a move that triggered gunbattles between security forces that later spilled over into gang fighting and ethnic unrest.
At least 37 people were killed and more than 150,000 people forced from their homes in the unrest, which also led to the resignation of the country’s first post-independence prime minister.
Reinado was arrested but broke out from jail after several months.
He was charged with murder in connection with the 2006 violence, but had remained in hiding with supporters and had threatened armed insurrection against the government.
Despite the outstanding charges, Mr Ramos-Horta met Reinado on several occasions in recent months to try to persuade him to surrender.
The streets of Dili were calm after the attacks. Mr Gusmao said an overnight curfew was in place in the city. The UN, which controls security in the country, said checkpoints had been set up on main roads.
“I appeal for Reinado’s supporters to remain calm and reflect on his death,” Mr Gusmao said in a televised address to the nation. “This is not the time for people to kill each other.”
Australia said it would send scores more soldiers to the international peacekeeping force it currently heads in the country, bringing total troop levels to around 1,000. It also pledged more police officers to the 1,400 strong UN-led force already there.
“Someone out there tried to assassinate the political leadership of our friend, partner and neighbour Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said. ”They have asked for some help, and we are about to provide it.“
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australian troops may be used to pursue those behind today’s attacks.
“The very strong view of the East Timorese government is that ... these people now need to be rounded up,” he said.
