Tuesday, February 12, 2008
DILI (Reuters) - Australian troops began arriving in East Timor on Tuesday to help enforce a state of emergency after the tiny nation's president was critically wounded in a double assassination attempt and flown to Darwin for treatment.
An Australian warship also arrived off the Dili coast on Tuesday to support the first of 200 fast reaction troops sent to reinforce international security forces as doctors said President Jose Ramos-Horta would remain on life support until next week.
The United Nations said 11 people had been questioned over Monday's attack, in which a rebel soldier leader was also killed, and that international security forces had responded swiftly.
"Investigations will be extensive and ongoing but we are expecting to give the first progress report to the prosecutor-general this afternoon or tomorrow morning," Finn Reske-Nielsen, acting U.N. mission chief, told a news conference.
In the Australian city of Darwin, where Ramos-Horta was airlifted with gunshot wounds in the chest, back and stomach, doctors said they planned more surgery.
"His condition remains extremely serious, but, by the same token, stable," Royal Darwin Hospital general manager Len Notaras told reporters, adding the President would need more surgery in the next 24-36 hours.
"He will be in an induced coma until at least Thursday, intensive care until Sunday or Monday of next week," he said.
Two planes, carrying a total of 120 Australian soldiers and equipment, landed late on Tuesday afternoon.
In the capital Dili, East Timor's interim president Vicente Guterres declared a state of emergency and appealed for calm, after apparently coordinated attacks against the president and prime minister threw the young nation into a fresh crisis.
Around 1,600 U.N. police, backed by about 1,000 Australian soldiers, were patrolling Dili and other cities amid fears of fresh violence by rebel soldiers, whose leader Alfredo Reinado was killed in the surprise early morning assault.
"The government of East Timor is in firm control," said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, ahead of a visit to the troubled nation later this week.
INTERNATIONAL FORCES CRITICISED
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