Police left Ramos Horta to bleed: brother

Ben Doherty, Darwin- February 14, 2008 - 4:01PM
The Age

United Nations police were "bloody cowards" who left East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta lying bleeding outside his house for nearly 30 minutes after he'd been shot, the President's younger brother has said.

In response, the UN today repeated its earlier denial of reports that Mr Ramos Horta was left by the roadside.

However, Arsenio Ramos Horta told The Age he cradled his brother's body, trying to stem the bleeding from his bullet wounds, as he waited more than 20 minutes for an ambulance.
But a road block thrown up by the UN police stopped medical teams from getting to the stricken President.

"When the shooting started the police put the roadblock up, and they wouldn't put the people in, and they needed to go to rescue the President right away. That's what went wrong," he said.
"It was only a half-an-hour later when they went. He was on the roadside outside the house."
Arsenio was in the presidential compound when the gunfight broke out between presidential guards and rebel soldiers led by Alfredo Reinado.

President Ramos Horta was shot twice in the back and lay bleeding in the roadside out the front of his house.

As Arsenio worked to stem the bleeding from his brother's wounds, he said he feared for his brother's life.

"Of course. He was bleeding really badly," he said.

He said he was angry the UN police had stalled in going to the aid of the President.
"They are bloody cowards, that's all. Some of them are just cowards. They were afraid to go in there."

But Arsenio said he was certain his brother would make a full recovery and return to Dili to resume his place as President.

"Of course he will. He will never give up."

Contacted today by The Age, the United Nations would not comment beyond reiterating its earlier denial of reports that Mr Ramos Horta was left by the roadside.

Allison Cooper, the UN's spokeswoman in Dili, previously told The Age that two UN police units were sent to the house within a minute of receiving a call at 6.59am.
The units arrived at the house at 7.18am, Ms Cooper said.
Police took another three minutes to find Mr Ramos Horta, and two minutes later he was in an ambulance on his way to hospital.

Meanwhile, the man who led the Interfet force into East Timor in 1999, former Australian Defence Force commander Peter Cosgrove, has described the assassination attempts on President Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao as a "setback" for democracy in the fledgling nation.

"The East Timorese are a courageous people, for many many years they held their love of democracy and independence very much to their hearts. And while this is a setback, I've got great confidence they'll struggle through this with assistance."

General Cosgrove made a special trip from Canberra to visit President Ramos Horta in his Darwin hospital bed yesterday.

Dr Ramos Horta remains under sedation in a serious but stable condition in Royal Darwin Hospital. He is expected to undergo further surgery tomorrow, but could be brought out of an induced coma as early as tomorrow.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is planning a trip to Dili tomorrow, and is expected, also, to visit Dr Ramos-Horta in Darwin.