East Timor President vows to stay on

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao appeared yesterday to withdraw a threat to resign over a dispute with the country's premier, promising thousands of supporters at a rally in the capital that he would always serve them.

"I am your big brother," Mr Gusmao told the crowd, which had gathered all day outside the government headquarters in Dili, clamouring for the resignation of Mari Alkatiri, the embattled Prime Minister blamed for the political crisis.

"Because you cried, I made a mistake," Mr Gusmao said, apparently referring to his threat on Thursday to resign unless Mr Alkatiri stood aside to accept responsibility for the crisis.

In an impassioned speech late on Thursday, the popular Gusmao - a hero of East Timor's decades long struggle for independence from Indonesia - said he would quit if Mr Alkatiri did not take responsibility for weeks of arson attacks and killings.

That prompted several prominent East Timor leaders to visit the President yesterday and urge him to stay in office, and by late afternoon some 5,000 supporters were demonstrating in front of Dili's main government building.

Sukehiro Hasegawa, the UN secretary-general's special representative to East Timor, appealed to Mr Gusmao not to resign, saying his continued presence was "indispensable for the maintenance of peace and stability".

A UN statement said the President expressed his appreciation for Mr Hasegawa's appeal and a phone call he received from Kofi Annan, but reiterated his firm intention to submit his message of resignation to Parliament unless Mr Alkatiri steps down.

But in extraordinary scenes yesterday, Mr Gusmao climbed a makeshift podium and - in a hoarse voice, cracking with emotion - promised to continue to serve the country.