(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-12 11:54

"We stand in solidarity with the government and people of Timor-Leste, in the hope that peace and stability will prevail, and thank Australia for its swift contribution to this end," the secretary-general said.

The audience responded to Ban's brief statement with scattered applause, and the secretary-general said: "Thank you for your solidarity."

The Security Council reaffirmed "its full support to the government and people of Timor-Leste in their continued efforts to strengthen democracy and ensure public security and maintain stability in their country."

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South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who led a council delegation to Timor-Leste two months ago, recalled that Ramos-Horta told the delegation "he was working to bring this rebel renegade commander back into the fold -- and he's the one it appears who led the attack on the president."

Kumalo, who drafted the council statement, said the president was shot as he took his morning walk.

"Everybody knew that in the morning he takes a walk, and these people didn't have to plan too hard." he said after the council strongly condemned the attack.

"One report is that they went to the house looking for him and discovered that he was on his walk and that's where they attacked him," Kumalo said. "He's a very simple man ... a man of the people and sometimes you pay a price for that."

Montas said UN police in Timor-Leste are "on a high state of alert" and are coordinating with the International Security Forces and Timorese authorities. UN envoy Atul Khare left the United States immediately after receiving news of the attack and is returning to Timor-Leste, she said.

Kumalo said the UN police and the UN mission in Timor-Leste "played a very, very great role" following the attack.

The Security Council expressed its "full support" for the UN mission, whose mandate is scheduled to be extended on Thursday, "and for the continued deployment of the international security force in response to the requests of the government of Timor-Leste."

Timor-Leste, a former Portuguese colony, gained independence in 2002 after voting to break free from more than two decades of brutal Indonesian occupation in a UN-sponsored ballot.

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