East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has said he will resign tomorrow if the country's prime minister refuses to take responsibility for a crisis that has led to weeks of violence in the country.
His statement was broadcast to the country after a second day of political meetings failed to bring the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.
Many East Timorese say Mr Mari Alkatiri's decision to fire 600 soldiers in March was to blame for clashes and gang warfare in the capital that left at least 30 people dead and sent nearly 150,000 people fleeing their homes.
Mr Gusmao wrote a letter to Mr Alkatiri yesterday, saying he no longer had the trust of the people and demanding he resign or be fired.
That sparked emergency talks between the prime minister and members of his Fretilin party, which controls 55 of the 88 seats in Parliament. They emerged hours later vowing to stand by their beleaguered leader.
Mr Gusmao then accused Fretilin of creating instability and demanded that the party replace Mr Alkatiri as its leader.
"If the situation does not change by early tomorrow morning, I will send an official letter of resignation to parliament," he said in his address to the nation. "Fretilin's leaders want to kill democracy in East Timor."
The violence was the worst to East Timor since it voted for independence from Indonesia seven years ago, although tensions have eased in recent weeks with the arrival of a 2,700-member foreign peacekeeping force.
AP