East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said Sunday he would return home this week and resume his duties, two months after would-be assassins almost killed him, according to AP. Ramos-Horta, speaking to reporters in Australia where he is recuperating, again gave assurances he was not planning to step down from office following the Feb. 11 attack outside his home in the East Timorese capital that critically wounded him. «I will resume my functions as president, go back to my house and the people in the country, tens of thousands all over the country, are waiting for me,» Ramos-Horta said. He said he would arrive home on Thursday. Ramos-Horta, 58, was rushed to the nearby city of Darwin in northern Australia after being shot twice by mutinous soldiers in front of his home in East Timor's capital, Dili. Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao escaped an ambush on his motorcade the same day. The motive of the attacks, which followed more than a year of political turmoil and violence, remained unclear. Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate for his role in winning his impoverished country's independence from decades of brutal Indonesian rule, said he was still in pain from his wounds, which have required multiple surgeries.
