sam88 2008-2-12 08:59 AM
Troubled Timor's voice to the world
Troubled Timor's voice to the world
East Timor President Jose Ramos- Horta was the troubled nation's international voice during two decades of Indonesian occupation.
Ramos-Horta, 58, who was shot three times and seriously wounded by rebels in an attack in Dili, the capital, yesterday, was a founder of the independence movement in the former Portuguese colony.
After Indonesia invaded in 1975, he spent 24 years in exile, developing an international reputation as spokesman for the East Timorese resistance.
His efforts to bring peace to his homeland through tireless diplomacy earned him a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with East Timorese Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo.
A former journalist fluent in five languages, the bespectacled Ramos- Horta is an elegant polyglot who typically sports a five o'clock shadow and is often seen wearing bow-ties.
One of 12 children, Ramos-Horta fled the capital Dili into exile at age 25, three days before Indonesia's invasion.
During his exile in the United States, he gained a master's degree in peace studies, found a passion for cinema and jazz, and became familiar with the workings of the United Nations.
After independence in 2002, he served as East Timor's foreign minister before his appointment in 2006 as prime minister and defense minister.
He is close to current prime minister Xanana Gusmao, the former guerrilla leader who escaped yesterday's coordinated attacks unharmed.
Both have a long history with Fretilin, the resistance movement and political party, although Ramos-Horta resigned his membership in 1998 and ran for president as an independent.
He recently called for unity in the country still largely paralyzed by insecurity after unrest in 2006, when Alfredo Reinado led a breakaway army faction that waged deadly battles on Dili's streets.
"Let us forget bad things that happened in the past that divide and hurt us, and let us unite in peace and love so we can advance to a better future," he said in his Christmas message.
"People are in shock and disbelieving what happened to the president," his spokesman Jose Turquel said.
"The president is very accessible to the people. He's a man who's trying to solve problems with peace and dialogue."
