By Tito Belo
DILI (Reuters) - East Timor's interim president urgedrebels believed to be involved in an assassination attempt onthe country's president to surrender on Monday as one personwas arrested in connection with the attack.
Rebel soldiers raided Jose Ramos-Horta's home last Monday,seriously wounding the president during a gunfight.
Police are hunting the rebels in nearby hills and arrestwarrants have been issued against 17 people suspected ofinvolvement in the attack.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unhurt in aseparate attack, ordered the country's military and policeforces to form a joint command to carry out the arrests
East Timor's prosecutor-general has issued an arrestwarrant for Gastao Salsinha who says he has taken command ofrebel soldiers after rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was killedduring the attack on Ramos-Horta.
"Salsinha must hand over weapons to face justice," interimpresident Fernando de Araujo told a news conference at thepresidential palace.
"I have ordered the (military and police) forces tocontinue the process against Salsinha, but they should respecthuman rights," he said.
"The forces should arrest people directly and indirectlylinked to the assassination attempts ... We have given them onemonth to arrest Salsinha and his men."
Separately, Gusmao appealed for people to stay calm.
"I ask people not to panic about the operation but toco-operate with the forces to make the operation a success,"Gusmao said at the government office.
As investigations continued, slain rebel leader Reinado'slawyer, a 40-year-old woman with dual East Timorese andAustralian citizenship, was arrested in Dili on Sunday inconnection with the attack, the prosecutor-general said.
A confidant of Reinado told Reuters the rebel leader mighthave wanted to kidnap the president and kill the prime ministerin a bid to oust foreign troops and force a snap election.
DETENTIONS
Separately, police said more than 200 people had beendetained for breaking emergency laws imposed after theassassination attempt last Monday.
"These people did not follow the state regulation and werewalking around the city at night," police operations commanderMateus Fernandes told Reuters.
Meetings and protests are banned under the emergency, andall citizens must stay home between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Asia's youngest nation has been unable to achieve stabilitysince hard-won independence. The army tore apart along regionallines in 2006, when about 600 soldiers were sacked, triggeringfactional violence that killed 37 people and drove 150,000 fromtheir homes.
Foreign troops were sent to restore order in the formerPortuguese colony of about one million people, which gainedfull independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a U.N.-sponsoredvote in 1999 that was marred by violence.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 andmany thousands of East Timorese died during a brutaloccupation.
People in Dili, which has been calm since the attacks, saidthey were unhappy with the curfew because it affected smallbusinesses.
"I think the government has dramatised the situation. It'sso calm in Dili and the country, but they have not pulled backthe state of emergency," said Joao Pinto, a shopkeeper in Dili.
"It's very hard for us to do our business at night becauseour customers always come at night."
(Writing by Sugita Katyal and Adhityani Arga; Editing bySara Webb and David Fogarty)
