East Timor's Ramos-Horta says personal diplomacy could bring Myanmar ceasefire

The president of East Timor told the associated Press on Monday that he would be willing to intercede personally to try and break the impasse in the region’s most challenging problem — Myanmar’s raging civil war, one day after his country was granted membership in the influential Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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In a wide-ranging interview in the Malaysian capital, where ASEAN was holding its annual summit, President José Ramos-Horta said that while his country may be the region’s youngest and one of its poorest nations, its people and leaders were long on diplomatic experience.

“In the midst of so many problems in the region, in the world, ASEAN doesn’t need another headache,” he said. “But at the same time, we do have some experience in reconciliation, ending conflicts, and healing wounds of communities, of society.”

That background, he said, has served his government well in balancing East Timor’s close relationship with China and its ties to the United States, Australia and other Western nations, and in maintaining stability at home as it works to tackle complicated problems like widespread poverty, malnutrition and youth unemployment.