February 12, 2008
East Timor Crisis Widens
A state of emergency has been declared in the small Southeast Asian island nation, one day after an assassination attempt on two of its top leaders. President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao were attacked in a failed coup.
Ramos-Horta remains on life support in an Australian military hospital with gunshot wounds in the chest, back and stomach. Gusmao escaped uninjured.
The state of emergency suspends large public gatherings and imposes an 8 p.m. curfew, according to the deputy prime minister.
Australian security forces have been called into the country to help enforce the state of emergency, and an op-ed this morning in the Boston Globe stresses the need for international intervention. The U.N. has maintained a presence in the country since Indonesia withdrew its control in 1999; East Timor won its independence in 2002.
See the CNN and Washington Post stories for more on East Timor's history and the current conflict.
