Jakarta, Indonesia – East Timor’s president-elect won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his efforts to liberate his country, but Jose Ramos-Horta may find charting a sustainable path for one of the world’s most oil-dependent nations to be his toughest challenge yet.
Ramos-Horta, who will be inaugurated on Friday, beat the incumbent Francisco Guterres – popularly known as Lu-Olo – in a second-round runoff last month, claiming 62.1 percent of the vote. Ramos-Horta, a former president and prime minister, had the backing of the Congresso Nacional de Reconstrucao de Timor (CNRT) party because he would “not oppose” the party’s plan to develop the Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields.
