East Timor PM Ramos-Horta says ready to resign

DILI, Sep 13 (Reuters) East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said today he was ready to resign if his people no longer wanted him, insisting he had not wanted the job in the first place.

His remarks followed rumours that his opponents would stage a protest on September 20 to try to unseat him and demand that parliament be dissolved.

''If the demonstration is aimed at creating chaos, I will resign,'' he told reporters after a ceremony to mark the transfer of all 500 international police in East Timor to the U N banner.

''As prime minister, I have concerns about security, the economy and development. Let me tell you that I was not looking for this burden and I was not looking for the position of prime minister.'' Concerns about East Timor's fragile security grew after rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado escaped from a Dili prison last month along with 50 other inmates.

Reinado, a key player behind the revolt that plunged the nation into chaos in May, has called for a ''people power'' revolution in a letter circulating in the tiny country.

International troops and police have been searching for Reinado since his escape but to no avail.

But Ramos-Horta, who became prime minister in July, expressed confidence that security in East Timor would continue to improve in the coming weeks.

''I think security is improving and I believe that it will be even better in the coming weeks, or in the coming one, two or three months,'' Ramos-Horta told reporters.

''The situation is complex but it doesn't mean there's civil war in East Timor.'' Ramos-Horta said there had been security problems in some parts of the capital, Dili, but they were far too small compared with violence in May, in which at least 20 people were killed.

A series of protests evolved into widespread violence in May after 600 members of East Timor's 1,400-strong army were sacked.

An estimated 100,000 people were displaced in the violence, which led to the deployment of a 2,500-strong international peacekeeping force.

Violence breaks out in the tiny nation sporadically, and some Timorese say gangs often fight one another with stones and homemade weapons.

The United Nations has agreed on a new mission to East Timor, comprising 1,600 police, despite a dispute over whether Australian-led troops already there should remain independent or be part of a U N force.

REUTERS PB BS1454