East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is “out of danger” and “recovering” following treatment in Australia after being shot in the stomach by rebels, the speaker of the country’s Parliament said on Monday.
“According to the information we have, the president has been operated on and the bullet that was in his lung has been removed,” Fernando de Araujo said while on a visit to Lisbon.
“He is in the process of recovery and is out of danger,” he said following talks with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.
Earlier, Royal Darwin Hospital general manager Doctor Len Notaras said that Ramos-Horta was on a ventilator but his condition was stable.
“He’s in a stable condition and while he is on a ventilation system, it’s working with him … to make him more comfortable,” he said, adding that Ramos-Horta would undergo a CT scan to determine what further surgery was needed.
Ramos-Horta was evacuated from the East Timor capital, Dili, after being shot by rebels in an assassination attempt outside his residence early on Monday.
After initial surgery in Dili, he was evacuated by air ambulance across the Timor Sea to the northern Australian city of Darwin for further surgery.
Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who said he was “shocked” by the attack on East Timor’s democratic leadership, described Ramos-Horta as being in a “very serious but stable condition”.
Socrates also said he was “shocked” at the attack and said Lisbon was standing by its former colony. But he said it was “premature” to talk about boosting the 140 Portuguese police serving with a United Nations mission in East Timor. — AFP