Ramos-Horta to succeed Gusmao

Ramos-Horta to succeed Gusmao

LISBON (AFP): Nobel laureate and East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta has been nominated to succeed Xanana Gusmao as leader of the country's embryonic parliament, a UN official was reported as saying.

Lusa news agency quoted UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Melo as saying in the East Timorese capital Dili that Ramos-Horta would suspend his ministerial duties until the National Council had completed its preparatory work in about three months.

Gusmao, who led the guerrilla war against Indonesia's occupation and annexation of East Timor by Indonesia before his capture and imprisonment, was widely favored to become the first president of the world's newest nation.

But his resignation as leader of his fledgling nation's interim parliament, the National Council, is final, East Timorese officials said on Thursday.