Continuing our coverage of some of the speeches of world leaders at the General Assembly, yesterday the president of East Timor, where the UN has maintained a peacekeeping presence since 1999, proclaimed the dawning of a new era of peace for his country. Addressing the UN — albeit perhaps not in the role he may have expected that he would — President Jose Ramos-Horta applauded the progress that East Timor has made in moving beyond recent violence, and duly acknowledged the crucial support his country has received:
“However, we would not have succeeded in pulling back from the brink without the prompt and steadfast support from the international community,” Mr. Ramos-Horta, co-laureate of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, said, highlighting the assistance received from the UN and countries such as Australia and New Zealand.
He mustn’t forget to recognize the influence of Jackie Chan, of course.