NEWSMAKER-Ramos-Horta, wounded in attack, key Timor politician
DILI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel laureate, was shot in the stomach on Monday when rebel soldiers attacked his house.
Ramos-Horta, 58, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his struggle for East Timor's independence from Indonesia.
With his bushy eyebrows and trademark round shirt collars, he was one of East Timor's best-known lobbyists for independence in the international community.
But since achieving his goal of independence for the tiny Southeast Asian nation, both he and his close friend and ally Xanana Gusmao, who is now prime minister, have faced a daunting task in holding the country together amid civil strife and grinding poverty.
"I see my role as a bridge builder, mediator, conciliator, so that the country can heal the wounds and move forward," Ramos-Horta told Reuters in an interview last June.
After Indonesia, which invaded neighbouring East Timor in 1975, eventually pulled out, both Ramos-Horta and Gusmao played leading roles in the newly independent country's politics.
East Timor, which became fully independent in 2002 after a period of U.N. administration, is rich in energy resources such as natural gas but is only just beginning to exploit them.
In the meantime, many of its 1 million people remain unemployed and most are desperately poor, with a per-capita income of only about $400.
The country has been wracked by sporadic violence with causes ranging from regional differences to political factionalism to jobless youth.
A regional split erupted into bloodshed in 2006 after the sacking of 600 mutinous troops from the western region. Foreign troops had to be brought in to restore order.
MULTI-LINGUAL DIPLOMAT
Ramos-Horta already had a high profile as a diplomat when he won the Nobel prize. He later held the posts of foreign minister and prime minister before winning the presidential election in 2007.
He spent years abroad as a spokesman for East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesian occupation, earning him the respect and friendship of a number of foreign leaders.
Fluent in not just the country's Tetum language, but Portuguese, Spanish, French and English, Ramos-Horta lobbied foreign leaders to highlight East Timor's plight under Jakarta's often brutal rule.
He won the Nobel Prize in 1996 along with Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo, and returned to East Timor in 1999 after two decades abroad.
While East Timor's president has some significant power and is not simply a figurehead, the country's system gives the prime minister strong influence over day-to-day government.
Ramos-Horta took over as prime minister from the leader of the Fretilin party for a brief period in 2006 after the latter was blamed for failing to control riots that spun into violence in which more than 30 people died.
Although he shares revolutionary roots with the Fretilin party, Ramos-Horta has taken an increasingly independent path.
Fretilin is criticised by some Timorese and foreign diplomats for its outdated Marxist philosophy, whereas Ramos-Horta and Gusmao are generally regarded as being pro-foreign investment.
Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1975 after long-time colonial power Portugal had set it free.
Pictures at the time show Ramos-Horta, who was an anti-colonial journalist and activist when Portugal ruled East Timor, as a fatigue-wearing rebel with bushy black hair.
These days, with his greying hair and spectacles, he has an almost academic air. (Reporting by Tito Belo, Ahmad Pathoni and Ed Davies, Writing by Sara Webb; Editing by David Fogarty)
Ramos-Horta, 58, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his struggle for East Timor's independence from Indonesia.
With his bushy eyebrows and trademark round shirt collars, he was one of East Timor's best-known lobbyists for independence in the international community.
But since achieving his goal of independence for the tiny Southeast Asian nation, both he and his close friend and ally Xanana Gusmao, who is now prime minister, have faced a daunting task in holding the country together amid civil strife and grinding poverty.
"I see my role as a bridge builder, mediator, conciliator, so that the country can heal the wounds and move forward," Ramos-Horta told Reuters in an interview last June.
After Indonesia, which invaded neighbouring East Timor in 1975, eventually pulled out, both Ramos-Horta and Gusmao played leading roles in the newly independent country's politics.
East Timor, which became fully independent in 2002 after a period of U.N. administration, is rich in energy resources such as natural gas but is only just beginning to exploit them.
In the meantime, many of its 1 million people remain unemployed and most are desperately poor, with a per-capita income of only about $400.
The country has been wracked by sporadic violence with causes ranging from regional differences to political factionalism to jobless youth.
A regional split erupted into bloodshed in 2006 after the sacking of 600 mutinous troops from the western region. Foreign troops had to be brought in to restore order.
MULTI-LINGUAL DIPLOMAT
Ramos-Horta already had a high profile as a diplomat when he won the Nobel prize. He later held the posts of foreign minister and prime minister before winning the presidential election in 2007.
He spent years abroad as a spokesman for East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesian occupation, earning him the respect and friendship of a number of foreign leaders.
Fluent in not just the country's Tetum language, but Portuguese, Spanish, French and English, Ramos-Horta lobbied foreign leaders to highlight East Timor's plight under Jakarta's often brutal rule.
He won the Nobel Prize in 1996 along with Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo, and returned to East Timor in 1999 after two decades abroad.
While East Timor's president has some significant power and is not simply a figurehead, the country's system gives the prime minister strong influence over day-to-day government.
Ramos-Horta took over as prime minister from the leader of the Fretilin party for a brief period in 2006 after the latter was blamed for failing to control riots that spun into violence in which more than 30 people died.
Although he shares revolutionary roots with the Fretilin party, Ramos-Horta has taken an increasingly independent path.
Fretilin is criticised by some Timorese and foreign diplomats for its outdated Marxist philosophy, whereas Ramos-Horta and Gusmao are generally regarded as being pro-foreign investment.
Indonesia annexed East Timor in 1975 after long-time colonial power Portugal had set it free.
Pictures at the time show Ramos-Horta, who was an anti-colonial journalist and activist when Portugal ruled East Timor, as a fatigue-wearing rebel with bushy black hair.
These days, with his greying hair and spectacles, he has an almost academic air. (Reporting by Tito Belo, Ahmad Pathoni and Ed Davies, Writing by Sara Webb; Editing by David Fogarty)
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