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Ainaro
Location in Ainaro District
Ainaro Location in East Timor
Coordinates: 9°0′S 125°30′E / 9°S 125.5°E / -9; 125.5Coordinates: 9°0′S 125°30′E / 9°S 125.5°E / -9; 125.5
Country	East Timor
District	Ainaro District
Population
• Total	12,000

Ainaro is a town in East Timor, the capital of the Ainaro District, and is located in the southwest part of the country. The subdistrict has a population of approximately 12,000 people. It contains the small mountain town of Ainaro, the district capital, along with the villages of Soro, Maununo, Cassa, Suro Craic, Manutassi, and Mau-Ulo. The town of Ainaro is located 78 km south of Dili, the national capital.

The town of Ainaro's main resources are its delicious organic coffee and aromatic sandalwood trees. It is a diverse community, where Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims are neighbors.

Destruction of Ainaro[link]

During the Indonesian occupation from 1975 to 1999, Ainaro was home to a large contingent of Indonesian military (TNI)-backed pro-Indonesia militias in the months leading up to the August 30, 1999 referendum on independence. As a result it suffered near-total devastation during the TNI orchestrated scorched earth operation with more than 95 percent of its buildings destroyed.

Sister cities[link]

• Madison, United States
• Ballarat, Australia

References[link]

External links[link]

• Madison-Ainaro Sister City Alliance
• Cafe Timor Just Coffee

v t e District capitals of East Timor Aileu Ainaro Baucau Dili Gleno Liquiçá Lospalos Maliana Manatuto Pante Macassar Same Suai Viqueque

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (March 2012)

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (April 2012) Don't speak German? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the German article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|de|Taur Matan Ruak}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Taur Matan Ruak
President of East Timor
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2012
Prime Minister	Xanana Gusmão
Preceded by	José Ramos-Horta
Personal details
Born	(1956-10-10) 10 October 1956 (age 55) Baguia, Portuguese Timor (now East Timor)
Political party	Independent
Military service
Years of service	1975–2011
Rank	Major General
Commands	Ponta Leste Sector Falintil Timor Leste Defence Force
Battles/wars	Indonesian occupation of East Timor

José Maria Vasconcelos, popularly known by his nom de guerre Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes") is an East Timorese politician who has been President of East Timor since 20 May 2012. Before entering politics, he was the Commander of the FALINTIL-Forças de Defesa de Timor-Leste (F-FDTL), the military of East Timor, from 2002 until 6 October 2011. Prior to serving in the F-FDTL, he was the last commander of the Armed Forces of National Liberation of East Timor or FALINTIL (Forças Armadas para a Liberação Nacional de Timor Leste), the insurgent army which resisted the Indonesian occupation of the territory from 1975 to 1999.

Leaving the military in 2011, he stood as an independent candidate in the 2012 presidential election and prevailed in the second round of the vote, held in April 2012.^[1]

Biography[link]

On 7 December 1975, when Indonesia invaded East Timor, Taur Matan Ruak took to the hills with the recently formed FRETILIN Army, FALINTIL. As a combatant, he participated in battles against the Indonesian military in Dili, Aileu, Maubisse, Ossu, Venilale, Uatulari and finally in Laga on the northeastern coast, where he eventually stayed. Major-General Ruak’s first official FALINTIL appointment was at the end of 1976. From 1976 to 1979, he rose through the FALINTIL ranks in the two eastern military sectors, the Central East Sector and the Eastern Point, or the Ponta Leste Sector. Then he became a company commander.

Taur Matan Ruak and others regrouped the following day at the base of Monte Legumau (Monte Apara) and recommenced guerrilla operations after the collapse of the last Timorese resistance base at Matebian Mountain on 22 November 1978. He was ordered to carry out guerrilla activities in the east after the death of Commander Nicolau Lobato in December 1978. During a mission to locate survivors of the annihilation campaign, Taur Matan Ruak was captured in the Viqueque area by Indonesian Army forces on 31 March 1979. After 23 days he managed to escape and rejoin other FALINTIL forces in the mountains.

In March 1981 he was appointed Assistant Chief-of-Staff of FALINTIL, responsible for the operational command of the Eastern Sectors and later the Central Sector. Taur Matan Ruak was promoted and made responsible for strategic planning of commando operations in the Eastern sector in March 1983. Between 1984 and 1986 Brigadier Ruak was transferred and served as military adviser for commando operations in the Western Sector. After nearly 10 years of operational experience he was promoted to Deputy Chief-of-Staff. After 1986, he was responsible for all commando operations throughout Timor Leste.

In November 1992, Commander-in-Chief Xanana Gusmão was captured in Dili. Taur Matan Ruak was promoted to Chief-of-Staff. Mr. Ruak became the Commander of FALINTIL after the death of Commander Konis Santana on 11 March 1998. Xanana Gusmão resigned from FALINTIL and Taur Matan Ruak was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of FALINTIL. With the Restoration of Independence on 20 May 2002 he became the Chefe Estado Maior General Forças Armadas (CEMGFA or Chief of the Armed Forces) and was promoted to Major General in 2009.

General Ruak is married to Isabel da Costa Ferreira.

Events since restoration of independence[link]

Taur Matan Ruak played a role in the 2006 East Timorese crisis. On 2 October 2006, the United Nations Independent Special Commission of Inquiry made a number of recommendations including that several individuals be prosecuted. Notably, it found that Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato, and Defence Minister Roque Rodrigues and Defence Force Chief Taur Matan Ruak acted illegally in transferring weapons to civilians during the crisis.^[2][3]

Ruak resigned from his position as commander of the F-FDTL on 1 September 2011. At the time there was speculation that he was considering running for president. Ruak stated that he would make a decision on standing for election during 2012.^[4]

He was formally decommissioned by President José Ramos-Horta on 6 October 2011.

Election as President[link]

A presidential election was held in Timor-Leste on 17 March and 16 April 2012^[5] in order to choose a president for a five year term. Incumbent President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was eligible for a second and final term as president, announced that he would seek nomination to be a candidate in the election.^[6] The election was seen as a test for the "young democracy" in seeking to take control of its own security.^[7] Taur Matan Ruak provisionally beat Francisco Guterres in a second round runoff.

Taur Matan Ruak was sworn in as President on 20 May 2012, on the same day that East Timor marked the tenth anniversary of its independence.^[8]

References[link]

• "Biography of Commander F-FDTL". East Timor Ministry of Defence and Security website. East Timor Ministry of Defence and Security. http://www.timor-leste.gov.tl/mindef/Eng/Defence%20&%20Security/commander.htm. Retrieved 23 March 2008. ^{[dead link]}

v t e Presidents of East Timor Xanana Gusmão • José Ramos-Horta • Vicente Guterres (Acting) • Fernando de Araújo (Acting) • José Ramos-Horta • Taur Matan Ruak