Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão GCL (born José Alexandre Gusmão, on 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. A former militant, he was the first President of East Timor, serving from May 2002 to May 2007. He has been the fourth Prime Minister of East Timor since 8 August 2007.

Gusmão was born to mestiço school teacher parents (of mixed Portuguese-Timorese ancestry) in Manatuto in what was then Portuguese Timor, and attended a Jesuit high school just outside of Dili. After leaving high-school for financial reasons at the age of fifteen, he held a variety of unskilled jobs, while continuing his education at night school. In 1965, at the age of 19, he met Emilia Batista, who was later to become his wife. His nickname, "Xanana", was taken from the musical lyric, "Sha-na-na". In 1966, Gusmão obtained a position with the public service, which allowed him to continue his education. This was interrupted in 1968 when Gusmão was recruited by the Portuguese Army for national service. He served for three years, rising to the rank of corporal. During this time, he married Emilia Batista, with whom he had a son Eugenio, and a daughter Zenilda. He has since divorced Emilia, and in 2000, he married Australian Kirsty Sword, with whom he had three sons: Alexandre, Kay Olok and Daniel. In 1971, Gusmão completed his national service, his son was born, and he became involved with a nationalist organization headed by José Ramos-Horta. For the next three years he was actively involved in peaceful protests directed at the colonial system.

Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri (born 26 November 1949) was the first Prime Minister of an internationally-recognized East Timor. He served from May 2002 until he resigned on 26 June 2006 following weeks of political unrest in the country. He is the Secretary-General of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN).

He is Hadhrami Arab by ethnicity and comes from the Al-Kathiri tribe a branch of which was also the Royal family of Seiyun that is now part of Yemen.

Alkatiri's ancestors were Hadhrami merchants who lived in Portuguese Timor, he was born in Dili, East Timor, and had 10 other siblings. He left East Timor in 1970 for post-secondary studies in Angola, returning to East Timor as one of the founders of FRETILIN, becoming its Minister for Political Affairs. Following FRETILIN's declaration of independence for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on November 28, 1975, Alkatiri was sent overseas as part of a high-level diplomatic mission. After Indonesia invaded the nascent nation on December 7, 1975, Alkatiri and his colleagues were unable to return, and he established the headquarters of the FRETILIN External Delegation in Maputo, Mozambique.