Assassins nearly took the life of East Timor's president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos Horta, on February 11, 2008. In the resulting melee, two of the attackers were killed, including rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, and one of Ramos-Horta's guards was injured. After more than two months of treatment abroad, though, the president is well enough to return to East Timor. Doctors say that Ramos-Horta is 90 per cent recovered from his injuries.

Mr. Ramos Horta returned to Dili from Darwin, Australia, on April 18. He was being treated at the Royal Darwin Hospital in the Australian city for three gunshot wounds to the back, reportedly from illegal fragmenting ammunition.

East Timor is one of the newest countries on Earth. It gained its independence from Indonesia in 2002, after a bitter 25-year-long occupation. The new nation shares the island of Timor with the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara.

The Portuguese colonized East Timor in the sixteenth century, while Indonesia was owned primarily by the Dutch. As a result, the two neighbors differ in language, religion, and culture. Nonetheless, when the Portuguese left East Timor in 1974, Indonesia invaded and occupied the territory.

The February assassination attempt on Ramos-Horta, who is generally very popular in East Timor, threatened to plunge the fragile new state into chaos. Luckily, he is recovering nicely. In the future, though, the president will probably be less able to mingle with the common people, as is his habit.

Three surviving members of the assassination squad have been arrested in Indonesia.

Photo copyright Paula Bronstein / Getty Images.