Alkatiri Resigns at Last: Timor Leste

The maybe I will and maybe I won't scenario has finally ended with the resignation of Prime Minister Alkatiri yesterday. His hesitant decision has cost lives and caused destruction and misery in the fragile country.

His resignation was welcomed setting off celebrations in the violence-scarred capital and raising hopes for an end to weeks of political turmoil and unrest. Mari Alkatiri is battling allegations that he formed a hit squad to silence opponents has faced mounting calls to step down including from the country's popular president. In certain circles it is believed his dismissal of 600 disgruntled soldiers in March was to blame for street battles and gang warfare that left at least 30 people dead and forced nearly 150,000 others to flee their homes.

In a pious statement Alkatiri said he wanted to share responsibility for the crisis affecting our country and to avoid the resignation of President Xanana Gusmao who had threatened to step down if the prime minister did not. That was nice of him!.

Gusmao, who led East Timor’s armed resistance against 24 years of Indonesian role enjoys nearly unanimous support in a country of 800,000 that is divided along political and sometimes ethnic lines.

Violence in Dili, including gun battles between rival security factions and clashes between machete-wielding youths, eased last month with the arrival of a 2,700 member Australian led peacekeeping force. Hundreds of houses were burned to the ground and government warehouses were looted.

It was not immediately clear who would succeed Alkatiri or whether his decision required the approval of the ruling Fretilin party which said over the weekend that it did not want him to resign. Ramos-Horta who has volunteered to lead an interim government until elections next year was not immediately available for comment.

It is believed that Alkatiri's departure will raise hopes for the nearly 150,000 people who remain in tent camps in and around Dili, a normally sleepy seaside city dotted with whitewashed churches, a legacy of four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule.