Ramos-Horta to be sworn in as East Timor PM

DILI, July 10 (Reuters) Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta will be sworn in as East Timor's new prime minister today, the presidential office said.

The move is aimed at restoring calm to Asia's newest nation, which descended into political crisis nearly three months ago when former prime minister Mari Alkatiri sacked about 600 members of the 1,400-strong army when they protested against discrimination.

The presidential office said in a statement the swearing in would be at 10 am (0730 hrs ist).

President Xanana Gusmao named Ramos-Horta, 56, premier of East Timor on Saturday, around two weeks after Alkatiri stepped down after being broadly blamed for violence in the tiny Pacific nation in recent months.

When rival factions of the army and police clashed, the violence spiralled into an orgy of arson and looting that only ended with the intervention of Australian-led peacekeepers.

At least 20 people died and 100,000 were displaced in the violence.

East Timor was a Portuguese colony for centuries before a revolution in Lisbon in 1975 gave the territory a brief taste of independence. Indonesian troops invaded a few days later and Jakarta annexed East Timor in 1976.

After a 1999 vote for independence marked by violence blamed largely on pro-Jakarta militia with ties to the Indonesian army, an international peacekeeping force moved into the territory, ushering in a transitional period of UN administration before East Timor became a fully-fledged nation in 2002.

REUTERS PDS RAI0658