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Assassination attempt on President Jose Ramos Horta
UN police ‘refused to help’ injured Ramos Horta
By OnTheWeb Monday, February 11, 2008East Timor’s Government says United Nations forces failed to help President Jose Ramos Horta after he was shot in an assassination attempt in Dili this morning.
He was shot in the arm and stomach after fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado launched a pre-dawn raid on his home.
Mr Ramos Horta is now in a serious but stable condition in Royal Darwin Hospital after being evacuated on a Careflight plane this afternoon.
He was sedated on the flight from Dili to Darwin and the hospital says he is suffering three gunshot wounds - two to the upper chest and one to the abdomen.
East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who was also attacked but escaped unharmed, has confirmed that Reinado was shot dead during the raid.
The country’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement which said that UN police stayed about 300 metres away from where Mr Ramos Horta was shot.
The Ministry says it was not until an ambulance arrived some time later that the injured President was taken to hospital.
Joao Carrascalao is the leader of the Timorese Democratic Union, and a member of the State Council.
The State Council, designed to advise in a state of emergency, is a 13-member panel made up of the President, Prime Minister and prominent East Timorese.
Mr Carrascalao told ABC Radio’s PM that when UN police arrived at the scene of the attack they refused to help.
“I have to regret that we advised the United Nations Police who went to the scene but 300 metres before reaching there, they refused to proceed,’ he said.
“The President was lying on the road and bleeding and already shot, and they refused to continue to give him assistance.
“It was finally the family and an ambulance from our hospital that went and rescued the President when he was more than half-an-hour bleeding and losing a lot of blood.
“The United Nations Police didn’t take action until the Portuguese Generale got there.
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