EAST TIMOR: President Xanana Gusmao confirms that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is to be East Timor's new Prime Minister

Record ID: 645100

  • Title: EAST TIMOR: President Xanana Gusmao confirms that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is to be East Timor's new Prime Minister
  • Date: 8th July 2006
  • Summary: (BN10) DILI, EAST TIMOR (JULY 7, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT ROUND TABLE MEETING FRETILIN DELEGATION (BN10) DILI, EAST TIMOR (JULY 8, 2006) (REUTERS) XANANA GUSMAO, PRESIDENT OF EAST TIMOR ENTERING ROOM; GUSMAO SPEAKING TO REPORTERS; VARIOUS OF NEW FIRST VICE PRIME MINISTER ESTANISLAU DA SILVA (BLUE SHIRT); PRESIDENT OF FRETILIN PARTY LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) XANANA GUSMAO, PRESIDENT OF EAST TIMOR, SAYING: "There is meetings with the delegation from Fretilin. We start the proposal from Fretilin and we got an agreement on the troika that will lead the government. I have to say that it is a response for a special situation, you all know why we call this a special situation, until the next elections and that troika is composed by Prime minister Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta first vice prime minister is Estanislau da Silva and the second vice prime minister will be Dr. Rui Araujo." GUSMAO LEAVING ROOM (BN10) DILI, EAST TIMOR (RECENT - JUNE 25, 2006) (REUTERS) JOSE RAMOS-HORTA SURROUNDED BY LARGE CROWDS; CLOSE UP RAMOS-HORTA ; RAMOS-HORTA PREPARING TO MAKE ADDRESS/BEING SERENADED BY SINGERS (3 SHOTS) RAMOS-HORTA SPEAKING
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Timor-Leste
  • Country: Timor-Leste
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2ERK4QUCR64V7BZ7UECIYK361
  • Story Text: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is to be East Timor's new prime minister, President Xanana Gusmao told reporters on Saturday (July 8, 2006), a move aimed at ending weeks of political uncertainty in Asia's newest nation.
    After a discussion with leaders of the country's dominant political party, Fretilin, on Friday (July 7) Gusmao told reporters on Saturday (July 8) that they had reached agreement on the troika that will lead the government.
    "That troika is composed by Prime minister Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta first vice prime minister is Estanislau da Silva and the second vice prime minister will be Dr. Rui Araujo," said Gusmao.
    He said they would hold meetings over the next few days and that the date of their swearing-in would be made known.
    Rui Araujo has been health minister, while da Silva was agriculture minister and is a senior Fretilin parliament member. Fretilin has 55 seats in the 88-member parliament.
    Alkatiri was broadly blamed for violence which erupted after he sacked nearly 600 members of the 1,400-strong army when they protested against discrimination.
    The tiny Pacific country, which broke free from Indonesian occupation in 1999 and became fully independent in 2002, was thrown into chaos when protests over the sackings spiralled into violence and looting that peaked in May.
    At least 20 people died and 100,000 were displaced in the violence, which continued sporadically even after the arrival of Australian-led peacekeepers.
    Ramos-Horta told Reuters in an interview this month that the prime minister's job was challenging since there was a need to provide a government and services Timorese deserved. He said the issues of unemployment and housing were particularly important.
    Scores of businesses and homes were destroyed in Dili as a simmering east-west divide bubbled over in the violence of recent months.
    But Ramos-Horta said in the interview he was confident a full independent investigation would get to the bottom of the crisis and help heal wounds.
    East Timor has massive unemployment and widespread poverty, but also untapped resources like offshore gas that promise considerable wealth in the decades ahead.
    A favourite of the international community, Ramos-Horta was acting as temporary co-ordinating minister since Mari Alkatiri stepped down as prime minister on June 26.
    Ramos-Horta had been a spokesman abroad for East Timor in its struggle to gain independence from Indonesian occupation and then its foreign minister when it won nationhood.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register