The President of East Timor is down — but not out. He is hanging in there, after taking three apparently high-speed bullets.
The Agence France Press (AFP) news agency reported that “Ramos-Horta was in a serious but stable condition after emergency overnight surgery for bullet wounds, according to his doctors in the Australian city of Darwin where he was airlifted Monday. ‘I believe he is extremely lucky to be alive’, Royal Darwin Hospital general manager Len Notaras said. Ramos-Horta, 58, underwent two-and-a-half hours of surgery late Monday and was in intensive care after his second operation in 24 hours, the doctor told AFP. He said the doctors were treating three bullet wounds and Ramos-Horta would need a further operation within 36 hours. The president was sedated and on a ventilator but not on life support, and would remain unconscious until at least Thursday, Notaras said, adding that he expected him to make a full recovery barring any unforeseen complications”.
Interestingly, the AFP story added that “East Timor’s military chief demanded an explanation Tuesday as to how the renegade soldiers were able to reach the homes of the nation’s two top leaders. ‘Given the big number of international forces present in Timor-Leste, in particular in Dili, how is it possible that vehicles transporting armed people have entered the city and executed an approach to the residences of the president and prime minister without having been detected?’ Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak asked in a statement he read out at the military headquarters. He called for a ‘complete international investigation’ into the events. This AFP report is posted strong>here.
The NY Times reported yesterday that some very knowledgable observers were mystified by the motivation of the purported attacker, Alfredo Reinado, leader of mutinous soldiers, who was supposedly killed during his attempt to assassinate Ramos Horta.
The Associated Press reported from the United Nations that “The Security Council in a statement Monday called on the nation’s people to remain calm and for its government ‘to bring those responsible for this heinous act’ to justice. South Africa’s UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who led a council mission to East Timor, told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the president was shot as he took his regular morning walk. ‘One report is that they went to the house looking for him and discovered that he was on his walk and that’s where they attacked him’, Kumalo said. ‘He’s a very simple man … a man of the people and sometimes you pay a price for that’.”
The same AP report added these medical details from Dili and Australia: “Ramos-Horta, 58, first underwent surgery at an Australian army hospital in East Timor before being sedated, attached to a ventilator and airlifted to the hospital in the northern Australian city of Darwin. Notaros said Ramos-Horta’s wounds indicated he had been shot two or three times. The most serious wound was to his the lower part of his right lung near his liver, and would likely require more surgery. There was also a risk of sepsis infection, Notaros said. The fragments will be handed to Australia Federal Police for the investigation into the shooting, Notaros said. At least one fragment was being left in his body, and was not thought to be threatening, he said…” This AP report can be found here.