Taur matan ruak biography sample

Taur Matan Ruak, former defence chief of East Timor, appears set to become the next president of the half-island nation, according to preliminary poll results released on Tuesday.

Ruak, 55, first took up arms to serve his country after Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor.

He fled to the mountains and joined the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin), a separatist group that fought against the Indonesian military using guerilla warfare across the country.

He spent much of the next two decades as a fighter against the year occupation.

In , Ruak was captured by Indonesian soldiers, but managed to escape after only 23 days and rejoined the resistance movement.

After East Timor voted for independence in a UN-organised referendum in , Ruak became the commander-in-chief of Falintil, the military wing of Fretilin, replacing Xanana Gusmao, the incumbent prime minister.

After formal independence in , Ruak was named chief of the East Timor’s