Australian troops land to boost East Timor security
Foreign Desk Report

DILI—Australian troops began arriving in East Timor on Tuesday to help enforce a state of emergency after the tiny nation’s president was critically wounded in a double assassination attempt and flown to Darwin for treatment.
An Australian warship also arrived off the Dili coast on Tuesday to support the first of 200 fast reaction troops sent to reinforce international security forces as doctors said President Jose Ramos-Horta would remain on life support until next week.
The United Nations said 11 people had been questioned over Monday’s attack, in which a rebel soldier leader was also killed, and that international security forces had responded swiftly. “Investigations will be extensive and ongoing but we are expecting to give the first progress report to the prosecutor-general this afternoon or tomorrow morning,” Finn Reske-Nielsen, acting U.N. mission chief, told a news conference.
In the northern Australian city of Darwin, where Ramos-Horta was airlifted with gunshot wounds in the chest, back and stomach, doctors said they planned more surgery. “His condition remains extremely serious, but, by the same token, stable,” Royal Darwin Hospital general manager Len Notaras told reporters, adding the president would need more surgery in the next 24-36 hours. “He will be in an induced coma until at least Thursday, intensive care until Sunday or Monday of next week,” he said.
Two planes, carrying a total of 120 Australian soldiers and equipment, landed late on Tuesday afternoon. In the capital Dili, East Timor’s interim president Vicente Guterres declared a state of emergency and appealed for calm, after apparently coordinated attacks against the president and prime minister threw the young nation into a fresh crisis.
Around 1,600 U.N. police, backed by about 1,000 Australian soldiers, were patrolling Dili and other cities amid fears of fresh violence by rebel soldiers, whose leader Alfredo Reinado was killed in the surprise early morning assault. “The government of East Timor is in firm control,” said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, ahead of a visit to the troubled nation later this week.
The commander of East Timor’s military, Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak, called for an investigation into Monday’s attacks and questioned the role of international forces. “There has been a lack of capacity shown by the international forces who have primary responsibility for the security within Timor Leste (East Timor),” he told a news conference. He also urged the public and media to persuade Reinado’s followers, who had fled into the jungle, to return for talks. Indonesia’s military had increased border patrols to ensure rebels did not try to flee, Antara state news agency reported. The commander of international troops in East Timor said separately that Ramos-Horta had opted to use local guards. “Unless we had information that led to the time and the place the attack would occur, there was not a great deal that could have been done about it,” said Brigadier James Baker.
Schools, businesses and government institutions were open in Dili, as local police stopped and checked cars, but the calm appeared uneasy and residents admitted they were nervous. Meetings and protests are banned under the emergency, and all citizens must stay home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Ramos-Horta, 58, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for waging a non-violent struggle for independence, was shot at his home early on Monday by renegade soldiers. Reinado and another rebel soldier died in the shoot-out, which the East Timor government said was a coup attempt.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped a similar attack that left his car riddled with bullets. Asia’s youngest nation has been unable to achieve stability since hard-won independence. The army tore apart along regional lines in 2006, triggering factional violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 from their homes.
Foreign troops were needed to restore order. Reinado had led a revolt against the government and was charged with murder during the 2006 factional violence, although later that year he escaped jail with 50 other inmates, embarrassing security forces.