Alkatiri named to head E. Timor's Cabinet

Alkatiri named to head E. Timor's Cabinet

DILI, East Timor (Agencies): Mari Alkatiri, the leader of East Timor's largest political party, was appointed on Thursday to head a new de facto Cabinet that will lead the fledgling nation to independence next year.

"This is the first truly representative and democratic government in the history of East Timor," said Sergio Vieira de Mello, East Timor's UN administrator.

Acting foreign minister Jose Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will retain his portfolio in the 20-member Council of Ministers, de Mello said.

The widely anticipated announcement came three weeks after elections in which the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, or Fretilin, won 55 seats in a new 88-member legislature.

The ballot was a key step in preparing East Timor for independence after centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, 24 years of Indonesian occupation, and two years of transitional UN government.

The assembly must now draft a constitution. The body will become the new parliament before independence is granted, probably next year.

East Timor will remain under UN administration until a president is elected in polls expected in March or April next year.

De Mello has speculated that independence could be granted on the day the president, widely expected to be independence leader Xanana Gusmao, is announced.