EAST TIMOR: East Timor president Xanana Gusmao appeared yesterday to withdraw a threat to resign, but embattled prime minister Mari Alkatiri was reported to be about to quit.
"I am your big brother," Mr Gusmao told thousands of supporters, who had gathered outside government headquarters in Dili clamouring for the resignation of Mr Alkatiri, widely blamed for the country's escalating political crisis.
"Because you cried, I made a mistake," Mr Gusmao said, apparently referring to his threat on Thursday to resign unless Mr Alkatiri stood aside to accept responsibility for the crisis.
Foreign minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Mr Alkatiri would hand in his resignation today to the central committee of Fretilin, the ruling party, Portuguese news agency Lusa said.
"A formal statement will then be made to the country, if the resignation is accepted," Lusa said, quoting a foreign ministry briefing document about Mr Ramos-Horta's meeting with foreign diplomats in Dili.
In an impassioned speech late on Thursday, the popular Mr Gusmao - a hero of East Timor's decades-long struggle for independence from Indonesia - said he would quit if Mr Alkatiri did not take responsibility for weeks of arson attacks and killings.
That prompted several prominent East Timor leaders to visit the president yesterday and urge him to stay in office. By late afternoon some 5,000 supporters were demonstrating in front of Dili's main government building.
Sukehiro Hasegawa, the UN secretary general's special representative to East Timor, appealed to Mr Gusmao not to resign, saying his continued presence was "indispensable for the maintenance of peace and stability".
A UN statement said the president expressed his appreciation for Mr Hasegawa's appeal and a phone call he received from Kofi Annan, but reiterated his firm intention to submit his message of resignation to parliament unless Mr Alkatiri stepped down.
But in extraordinary scenes yesterday, Mr Gusmao climbed a makeshift podium and - in a hoarse voice, cracking with emotion - promised to continue to serve the country. "I have opened my ears and I am listening to you," he told the crowd as youths clambered up trees and lamp posts to get a better view.
The crowd chanted, "has Alkatiri stepped down?", but Mr Gusmao - smiling and in good humour - refused to respond.
Diplomatic sources said they also expected the prime minister - who has vowed to stay on as long as he has the support of Fretilin in parliament - will go before the weekend is out.
Mr Alkatiri denies he is responsible for the violence, which started after he sacked 600 of the 1,400-strong army for mutiny when they complained about discrimination. Weeks of looting and arson followed, only brought under control by a 2,500-strong Australian-led intervention force, which has disarmed the country's army and police.
But a damaging documentary released this week implicated Mr Alkatiri and former interior minister Rogerio Lobato in a plot to arm a secret security force to eliminate rivals.