Mexico Condemns East Timor Attacks

Mexico condemned Monday the attacks on East Timor’s President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

The Mexican government "is praying for the swift recovery of President and Nobel Prize Winner Jose Ramos Horta," a statement said.

A group of rebel fighters, led by former army officer Alfredo Reinado, attacked Ramos on Sunday. Reinado was shot dead by Ramos’s bodyguards.

Ramos, the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, suffered gunshot injuries but is now in a stable condition in a hospital in the Australian city of Darwin. He underwent emergency surgery in East Timor’s capital Dili before being flown to Australia.

Gusmao, who escaped unhurt during a separate attack targeting his motorcade, declared a state of emergency in the country, whichshares an island with the Indonesian region of Tenggara.

The statement said Mexico explicitly backed the Timorese government and the United Nations peacekeeping forces’ role in guaranteeing public security and the survival of the nation’s institutions.

East Timor won independence from Indonesia in a referendum in 1999 and became a self-governing nation in 2002 after a transitionperiod under UN administration.

(c) 2008 Xinhua News Agency – CEIS. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.