ETimor's Ramos-Horta considers UN position

Updated June 27, 2008 08:12:17

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is considering stepping down. [Reuters]

East Timor President, Jose Ramos-Horta, will make an announcement today whether he will take a position with the UN human rights agency, UNHCR.

The 58-year-old Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his struggle for East Timor's independence from Indonesia, told a news conference on Thursday he would consult political and church leaders before making a decision.

"My apology that I am still not able to say that I have made up my mind to be the candidate for the post of high commissioner of human rights in Geneva," Ramos-Horta said on Thursday.

"I have been encouraged by many friends, international and some locally, to pursue this option," he said.

"I have to consult political parties and church leaders because I have a responsibility to the people and the country.

"I have to consider the political consequences if I leave the country."

He said Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao had given his support for the UN job.

The term of the current commissioner, Louise Arbour of Canada, expires on June 30.

At the United Nations in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was still in the process of selecting a candidate and had not offered the job to anyone.

"We are now in the process of narrowing down to the final short-list of the candidates," Mr Ban said.

"It may take a few more days before I will be able to submit the final candidate to the General Assembly for confirmation."

A quieter life

Dr Ramos-Horta was elected president of Asia's youngest nation last year with a five-year term.

He had a high profile as a diplomat when he won the Nobel prize and later held the posts of foreign minister and prime minister before winning the presidential election.

He was shot and critically wounded in an attack by rebel soldiers at his home in Dili in February.

He has often said he wished for a quieter life to write his memoirs of East Timor's long struggle for independence from Indonesian rule.

East Timor is struggling to achieve political and social stability following violence in 2006 that killed 37 people and forced 150,000 people from their homes.

The former Portuguese colony, invaded by Indonesia in 1975, won independence in a violence-marred vote organised by the United Nations in 1999.

It became fully independent in 2002 after a period of UN administration.