Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is to be East Timor 's new prime minister, President Xanana Gusmao told reporters today, a move aimed at ending weeks of political uncertainty in Asia's newest nation.
A favourite of the international community, 56-year-old Mr Ramos-Horta was acting as temporary coordinating minister since Mari Alkatiri stepped down as prime minister on June 26th.
Mr Ramos-Horta had been a spokesman abroad for East Timor in its struggle to gain independence from Indonesian occupation and then its foreign minister when it won nationhood.
"I have met with the Fretilin party. We have agreed for a change of power as a response to the recent situation," Mr Gusmao said after a discussion with leaders of the country's dominant political party.
"Jose Ramos-Horta is to be prime minister, first deputy prime minister is Estanislau da Silva and the second deputy is Rui Araujo."
He said they would hold meetings over the next few days and "after this we will tell you when they will be be sworn in".
Rui Araujo has been health minister, while Mr da Silva was agriculture minister and is a senior Fretilin parliament member. Fretilin has 55 seats in the 88-member parliament.
Alkatiri was broadly blamed for violence which erupted after he sacked nearly 600 members of the 1,400-strong army when they protested against discrimination.
The tiny Pacific country, which broke free from Indonesian occupation in 1999 and became fully independent in 2002, was thrown into chaos when protests over the sackings spiralled into violence and looting that peaked in May.
At least 20 people died and 100,000 were displaced in the violence, which continued sporadically even after the arrival of Australian-led peacekeepers.
CHALLENGING JOB
"The question of who is prime minister is a matter for East Timor , but we welcome the fact that the political leaders in East Timor are starting to sort their problems out," Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said through a
spokesman.
Ramos-Horta told Reuters in an interview this month that the prime minister's job was challenging since there was a need to provide a government and services Timorese deserved.
"There are certain steps I would take -- chiefly looking at the issue of unemployment, of housing -- that I believe can tackle some of these issues."
Scores of businesses and homes were destroyed in Dili as a simmering east-west divide bubbled over in the violence of recent months.
But Ramos-Horta said in the interview he was confident a full independent investigation would get to the bottom of the crisis and help heal wounds.
"We have to work with the church and civil society organisations to bring the dialogue to grassroots," he said.
East Timor has massive unemployment and widespread poverty, but also untapped resources like offshore gas that promise considerable wealth in the decades ahead