East Timor PM Xanana Gusmao submits resignation

East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao resigned as prime minister Friday, stepping down ahead of an expected restructuring of the government next week.

Gusmao, 68, is a former guerrilla leader who spearheaded East Timor's drive for independence. He has served as either president or prime minister since East Timor became independent in 2002 after a 24-year struggle against Indonesian occupation.

The move was expected as local media reports said Gusmao had advised fellow lawmakers that he would step down.

Gusmao "has sent his letter of resignation from the post of prime minister to the president," President Taur Matan Ruak, said in a government statement on Friday.

"It is now for the president of the republic to consider and respond to the letter of resignation."

Gusmao's departure would deprive East Timor of a unifying leader who has helped resolve numerous crises, but analysts say it is time for Gusmao to step aside to start the transition to a new generation of leaders.

If his resignation is accepted, Gusmao is expected to maintain a role in government, perhaps as a coordinating minister, the adviser said, but the aim is for the older generation of leaders to give way to a new generation.

East Timor voted overwhelmingly in 1999 to end 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation that had left more than 170,000 dead, but the country has struggled since then to develop economically. About half of the population of 1.2 million people live in poverty. Before Indonesia invaded in 1975, Portugal had ruled East Timor for centuries.

Gusmao was the first president of the new country, from 2002 to 2007, and then prime minister for more than seven years.

An adviser to Gusmao, who did not want to give his name because he's not authorized to speak publicly about the resignation, said Gusmao felt now was the time to pass the responsibility of governing to the next generation.

He said it was part of a restructuring of the government that is expected to be announced next week. Under the proposal, the Cabinet would be reduced from 55 to 34 ministers and would become more inclusive, with opposition members among those appointed.

The adviser said that Gusmao, the president and lawmakers are discussing who will be the next prime minister but that it was unlikely to be announced before next week.

Former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was not expected to play a role in the new government, the adviser said.

East Timor was a colony of Portugal until it declared independence in late 1975. It was then invaded and occupied by Indonesia until a U.N.-backed referendum in 1999 followed by it becoming a sovereign state on May 20, 2002.

Wire services