East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta returned home to an ecstatic welcome yesterday following two months of life-saving treatment in Australia after he was shot in a rebel attack.
A visibly thinner president was met by throngs of dignitaries and thousands of jubilant supporters as he stepped off his early morning flight from Darwin.
Ramos-Horta was shot in near-simultaneous rebel attacks on his home and the convoy of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao on Feb. 11.
Confusion and rumours over the attacks, in which rebel leader Alfredo Reinado and one other fighter were killed, have swirled round the tiny Asian nation.
A severely wounded Ramos-Horta was rushed from his home and put on a plane to Darwin, where he was treated in hospital for multiple gunshot wounds and spent 10 days in an induced coma.
Returning to home soil, the president was close to tears as he embraced military chief Taur Matan Ruak in front of cheering crowds who waved East Timorese flags and wore T-shirts showing Ramos-Horta meeting Pope Benedict XVI.
A number of rebels, including Reinado’s reputed right-hand man Gastao Salsinha, are still wanted over the February attacks.
“I ask Salsinha to surrender, to come to Dili, surrender his weapon and surrender himself to the prosecutor’s office,” Ramos-Horta said at the airport. “There is only one place for him to talk, that is in court ... only a court can decide whether he is guilty or not.”
The president, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, said East Timor had suffered from too much instability and had to unite to face the dangers of a global economic crisis.
“I ask the government and the parliament to see how we can use our oil receipts to buy food for the poor. The state and the government should look into this. This is my preoccupation,” he said.
Ramos-Horta praised the country’s often-feuding political factions for maintaining calm during the state of emergency imposed in East Timor since the February attacks, from which Gusmao escaped unhurt.
Local and foreign forces ensured tight security for the president’s return, with soldiers and police lining the road from the airport.
Crowds of thousands packed roadsides to catch a glimpse of the popular president as he drove by, guarded by Portuguese police.
Speaking later at the nation’s parliament, Ramos-Horta, 58, said that he wanted to see a peaceful solution to the rebel crisis.
“I don’t want Gastao Salsinha to die, I don’t want his wife to become a widow, I don’t want his mother and father to be upset by his death,” Ramos-Horta said.
After leaving the parliament, Ramos-Horta headed home where he was met by tribal elders. An exorcism was held at his house last week to cleanse it from the vestiges of the February attack.
Elders have sacrificed a pig and let loose a red-feathered rooster, which is running free in the large villa compound, said a resident.
“The ritual was to clean the house of the spirits of those who died violently there,” said a relative of the president who wished to remain anonymous.
International forces have been stationed in East Timor since 2006 after fighting broke out between military and police factions.
Ramos-Horta gave assurances during the week that he would continue to lead his country after an Australian newspaper quoted him as saying he may step down.
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