By Tito Belo
DILI (Reuters) - Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd madea lightning visit to East Timor on Friday to pledge supportafter an assassination attempt on the country's president, JoseRamos-Horta.
Rudd later flew to the northern Australia city of Darwin tovisit Ramos-Horta, recovering in hospital there from doublegunshot wounds.
Rudd shook hands with his East Timor counterpart XananaGusmao in Dili, before meeting senior United Nations andAustralian military officials there.
"A bullet can wound a president but it never can penetratethe values of democracy," Gusmao told reporters after talkswith Rudd amid heavy security in the capital, whereinternational troops and police locked down streets.
"Our nation is a proud nation. We are ready to progressfrom volatility to stability, and from fear to confidence,"Gusmao said.
Rudd, who sent 200 extra troops and police after Monday'sdouble assault by rebel soldiers on Ramos-Horta's home andGusmao's motorcade, said Australia would stand"shoulder-to-shoulder" with Asia's youngest nation.
"It's by the ballot box, and not by the barrel of a gun,that the decisions for our countries will be made," Rudd said.
Australia has 1,000 troops in East Timor, backing up 1,600United Nations police.
Gusmao was unharmed in the attacks, but rebel leaderAlfredo Reinado was killed in the gunfight at Ramos-Horta'shouse.
The man who claims to have taken command of rebel soldiersafter Reinado's death, former army lieutenant Gastao Salsinha,told Reuters his supporters would fight if attacked byinternational forces.
East Timor's prosecutor-general has issued a warrant forhis arrest.
"I still have several weapons and other army equipment, aswell as... many supporters in the country. Alfredo's death willnot stop us fighting, because his death is a lesson for us todefend justice," Salsinha told Reuters.
International security forces were sent to theresource-rich but still impoverished country in May 2006 afterethnic fighting and clashes between rival police and themilitary, which left more than 30 people dead and 150,000living in refugee camps, from a population of around a million.
"HE'S A FIGHTER"
Rudd later flew to Royal Darwin Hospital, where Ramos-Hortawas taken on life-support after he was shot by renegadesoldiers led by Reinado.
Australian doctors will carry out more operations over theweekend to repair damage to Ramos-Horta's right lung and removebullet fragments.
"He's a fighter. I know old Jose, he's a fighter," Ruddsaid, declining to comment on the president's condition.
East Timor's parliament has imposed a state of emergencyfollowing the latest unrest, with Australian special forcessoldiers hunting rebels in hills near the capital.
The tiny nation's prosecutor-general issued arrest warrantsfor 24 people suspected of involvement in the attacks.
In Dili, the streets were calm and shops, offices and bankswere open. Fears of violence in the wake of the doubleassassination attempt have so far proved unfounded.
"I only hope there will be no more unrest and rebellion.Because of the rebellion, the government imposed the state ofemergency and we can't do anything at night. We just stay athome. It is not good for us young people," said Adriano daCosta, a shopkeeper in central Dili.
Reinado led a revolt against the government and was chargedwith murder after the factional violence in 2006. Later thatyear, he escaped jail with 50 other inmates, embarrassingsecurity forces.
East Timor, which is just beginning to tap considerable oiland natural gas resources, gained full independence fromIndonesia in 2002 after a U.N.-sponsored vote in 1999 that wasmarred by violence.
Indonesian invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975.Many thousands of East Timorese died during the brutaloccupation that followed.
(Additional reporting by Ahmad Pathoni in Dili, Rob Taylorin Canberra, and Jill Gralow in Darwin; Writing by Rob Taylorand Sara Webb; Editing by Jerry Norton)
