(dpa) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday made an open commitment to keeping troops in East Timor following assassination attempts on President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
Gusmao escaped without injury, but Ramos-Horta was shot twice in Monday's attempted coup and was in an induced coma after several operations at a hospital in Australia's far-northern city of Darwin.
"It's by the ballot box, not by the barrel of a gun, that decision of our countries will be made," Rudd told reporters in Dili, the East Timor capital, after a three-hour visit. "Australia is here for the good times, the bad times and the difficult times."
Rudd ordered an additional 350 troops and police to East Timor in the wake of attacks led by rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado, who was shot dead in a gunfight outside Ramos-Horta's home.
The extra personnel rushed in brought to 1,000 the strength of the Australian force in the tiny half-island nation of 1 million people located north of Australia.
The 15 people that United Nations police in East Timor are hunting in connection with the botched coup are all known supporters of Reinado. Elite Australian soldiers have a mandate to hunt down those behind the botched coup.
"Our nation is a proud nation," Gusmao said at the joint press conference with Rudd. "A bullet can wound the president but can never penetrate the values of democracy."
On his return from Dili, Rudd plans to visit Ramos-Horta in Royal Darwin Hospital. Ramos-Horta was expected to be brought out of his coma within the next few days.
Hospital spokeswoman Dianne Stephens said the Nobel laureate and former prime minister was progressing well. After surgery on his damaged right lung, doctors expressed confidence he would fully recover. Stephens said no further operations were planned.
"It's dangerous and unnecessary to remove all the bits of shrapnel," she said. "There are many soldiers in the world that are walking around with bits of shrapnel in their bodies."
Ramos-Horta shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with compatriot Bishop Carlos Belo for leading the diplomatic campaign for East Timor's independence from Indonesia.
Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, and its occupation continued until 1999 when Australia led an international force that helped guide East Timor to full independence in 2002.
East Timor fell into chaos in 2006 after 600 soldiers were sacked from the army and took to the hills. Reinado, who broke out of jail in 2006, was a hero to some of the soldiers who deserted with their guns.