East Timor’s president was in “extremely serious” but stable condition on Tuesday in Australia after surgeons removed bullet fragments from an assassination attempt, while authorities at home declared a two-day state of emergency.

Acting President Vicente Gutterres announced the emergency powers in an address on national television following separate attacks on Monday on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao in what Gusmao, who was unscathed, called an unsuccessful coup attempt by renegade soldiers.
The order bans demonstrations and gives police extended powers of search and arrest.

Dr Len Notaros, the general manager of the Royal Darwin Hospital, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Tuesday morning that surgeons operated on President Jose Ramos-Horta for three hours overnight to remove the fragments and repair his wounds.

“His condition remains extremely serious but by the same token, stable,” Notaros said. “The next few days will be the telling point.”
Ramos-Horta, who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent resistance to the decades-long Indonesian occupation, was shot in the chest and stomach by gunmen in two cars around dawn Monday, officials said.

Australian troops

Meanwhile, the Australian troops began arriving in East Timor on Tuesday to help enforce emergency.
An Australian warship also arrived off the Dili coast to support the first of 200 fast reaction troops sent to reinforce international security force, government sources said.