EAST TIMOR: One of East Timor's most senior political figures, Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, quit the government yesterday as a political crisis deepened.
Mr Ramos-Horta had been foreign minister since Timor's independence in 2002, but last month was also given the defence and interior portfolios after fighting in the armed forces spiralled into widespread violence that killed 30 people.
"The minister has resigned," his aide, Chris Santos reported. "However, he will continue to occupy his portfolios until a new government is sworn in."
Prime minister Mari Alkatiri was widely blamed for the violence. His Fretilin party met yesterday amid speculation he may be dumped, but a party spokesman said he would not step down and "correct constitutional procedures" must be followed.
Estanislau da Silva said that the party had appealed "to the president and prime minister not to disengage from their constitutional responsibilities in order to contribute, each of them, to a constructive resolution of the political crisis".
He told a news conference that Fretilin wanted a dialogue with the president, Xanana Gusmao, the United Nations, church leaders and civic groups for a joint solution to the crisis.
An aide said Mr Ramos-Horta, who is not a Fretilin member, resigned in protest at the party's decision. Fretilin stalwart Ovideo Amaral, the transport minister, also said he would quit. Mr Amaral said Mr Alkatiri stepping down "was the only correct decision" the party could have made, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer described Mr Ramos-Horta as "a good friend" and said he has been a very effective foreign minister since the emergence of East Timor. "I'll be very sorry if it is confirmed that José Ramos-Horta has resigned," he said.
Western diplomats have privately said they would like Mr Ramos-Horta as prime minister. A close friend of Mr Gusmao, he is seen as more likely to implement job-creating projects and manage loans and aid with more transparency.
Mr Alkatiri's resignation has been the rallying cry during protests by thousands of Timorese that have peaked in the past five days after damaging revelations in an Australian news documentary linked him to a plot to arm a civilian militia.
The revelations prompted the tiny nation's popular president to threaten to quit. While he later pulled back, diplomats said bad blood between him and Mr Alkatiri was now out in the open.
Mr Alkatiri, re-elected Fretilin's leader in May by the party's 80-member central committee in a show of hands, is prime minister by virtue of their parliamentary majority.
Mr Gusmao, who quit the party in the 1970s to focus on leading an insurgency against Indonesian rule, won the presidency by an overwhelming majority when the country became independent.
Jailed by Indonesia for his role in the armed struggle, Mr Gusmao is popularly known as "big brother" by virtually all Timorese and is mobbed by supporters wherever he goes.
Mr Alkatiri, on the other hand, is widely mistrusted, not just because he is a Muslim in a staunchly Roman Catholic country, but also for his less-than-impressive liberation struggle credentials.
He spent years in exile in Mozambique and Angola and critics say he was influenced by their socialist policies. He has not been seen in public for weeks, and always travels under tight security.
With unemployment running at about 70 per cent in a nation of about one million, Mr Alkatiri is accused of failing to use the country's revenues from oil and gas exploration rights in the Timor Sea to build a viable economy and create jobs. He is also blamed for mishandling a dispute by about half of the 1,400-strong army that led to a split in the security forces and widespread violence and looting that only ended with the arrival of a 2,500-strong Australian-led intervention force.
East Timor was a Portuguese colony for centuries before a revolution in Lisbon in 1975 gave the territory a brief taste of independence. Indonesian troops invaded a few days later and Jakarta annexed East Timor in 1976.
After a 1999 vote for independence marked by violence, blamed largely on pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian army, an international peacekeeping force moved into the territory, ushering in a transitional period of UN administration before East Timor became a fully-fledged nation in 2002.