Wild celebrations as East Timor’s Premier resigns

DILI – East Timor’s embattled prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, resigned yesterday, saying he would share responsibility for a political crisis that has gripped Asia’s newest nation for over two months.

There was no immediate word on a replacement, but news of his departure was welcomed by thousands of people who have been demonstrating in the capital for the past week. They cheered and beat drums in celebration as word of his resignation spread.A convoy of about 200 buses and vans drove through the seaside capital of Dili, their horns blaring.Alkatiri said he was stepping down to avoid the resignation of the nation’s popular president, Xanana Gusmao, who had threatened to quit himself unless the prime minister left office.Gusmao said in a statement he had accepted the resignation and had called for a meeting of the State Council, a presidential advisory committee, today to discuss the next step.Alkatiri told a news conference he was quitting “having deeply reflected on the present situation prevailing in the country …assuming my own share of responsibility for the crisis affecting our country”.He said he would remain as a member of parliament, but refused to answer questions.The prime minister has been widely blamed for violence that erupted in May as fighting within the armed forces spiralled into rioting, arson and looting in Dili.The violence ended only with the arrival last month of a 2 700-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force that has disarmed the army and police and taken responsibility for security.Calls for Alkatiri’s resignation have been the rallying cry of protests by thousands of Timorese that peaked in the past six days after damaging revelations in an Australian news documentary linked him to a plot to arm a civilian militia.One of the country’s best-known political figures, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is being touted as a possible replacement for Alkatiri should Gusmao ask parliament to form a national unity government to rule until elections due by May 2007.- ReutersThey cheered and beat drums in celebration as word of his resignation spread.A convoy of about 200 buses and vans drove through the seaside capital of Dili, their horns blaring.Alkatiri said he was stepping down to avoid the resignation of the nation’s popular president, Xanana Gusmao, who had threatened to quit himself unless the prime minister left office.Gusmao said in a statement he had accepted the resignation and had called for a meeting of the State Council, a presidential advisory committee, today to discuss the next step.Alkatiri told a news conference he was quitting “having deeply reflected on the present situation prevailing in the country …assuming my own share of responsibility for the crisis affecting our country”.He said he would remain as a member of parliament, but refused to answer questions.The prime minister has been widely blamed for violence that erupted in May as fighting within the armed forces spiralled into rioting, arson and looting in Dili.The violence ended only with the arrival last month of a 2 700-strong Australian-led peacekeeping force that has disarmed the army and police and taken responsibility for security.Calls for Alkatiri’s resignation have been the rallying cry of protests by thousands of Timorese that peaked in the past six days after damaging revelations in an Australian news documentary linked him to a plot to arm a civilian militia.One of the country’s best-known political figures, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta is being touted as a possible replacement for Alkatiri should Gusmao ask parliament to form a national unity government to rule until elections due by May 2007.- Reuters