By DPA
Sydney : East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was wounded in a pre-dawn rebel attack Monday on his home in capital Dili, was reported stable and ready for medical evacuation to Australia.
The Nobel peace laureate and former prime minister was shot twice in the stomach in an exchange of fire that reportedly cost the life of rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, who had been on the run since escaping jail in August 2006.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who switched jobs with Ramos-Horta after elections in May, escaped injury when rebels opened fire on his car.
“The condition of the president is stable, he’s got a small injury to his abdomen,” presidential spokesman Jose Turquel told reporters in Dili.
A plane has left Darwin, Australia for the one-hour journey to Dili to pick up the stricken president, who is reported to have two bullet wounds.
“What we had apparently are coordinated attacks aimed at assassinating the democratically elected leadership of East Timor,” Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.
Australia will send 120 extra troops and police to East Timor, bringing the number to 1,000. Rudd plans to visit Dili later in the week.
Ramos-Horta shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with compatriot Bishop Carlos Belo for leading the diplomatic campaign to end 23 years of Indonesian occupation.
Ramos-Horta, 58, was abroad when Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975. The occupation continued until 1999, when Australia led an international force that helped guide East Timor to full independence in 2002.
Dili was calm on Monday, with soldiers and police out in force to prevent further violence.
Reinado had been arrested on charges of murder, desertion and possessing illegal weapons. He was shortly to be tried in absentia. Last week, rebel troops loyal to Reinado fired on Australian troops on a routine patrol.
The recent troubles in the world’s newest nation started in 2006 when the then prime minister Mari Alkatiri sacked one-third of the army. The soldiers, who refused to lay down their arms, rallied behind leader Reinado. Alkatiri lost control of the country and handed over power to Ramos-Horta.
Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic who has just returned from Dili, predicted that the death of Reinado – if confirmed – would spark a return to unrest that has displaced over 100,000 people and riven the overwhelmingly Catholic country, which shares the island of Timor with giant neighbour Indonesia.
“If in fact Reinado has been killed, that’s a very significant move in East Timorese politics,” the Deakin University professor said.