Mr Alkatiri and Mr Gusmao appear to be working together better than some people expected.

ECONOMIST: After centuries of oppression, the birth of a nation

Is Jakarta now prepared to release Independence leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao from jail?

CNN: HOPE FOR EAST TIMOR

The leader of the East Timorese resistance, Xanana Gusmao, is not among those freed.

ECONOMIST: Indonesia

It's the term independence leader Xanana Gusmao coined as the prospective name of his new independent nation.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Asia Buzz: Dot-coms Redux

But the campaign has embroiled Mr Gusmao in an increasingly testy exchange with estranged resistance comrades who now dominate East Timor's fledgling parliament.

ECONOMIST: Asia's imminent addition elects its president

Xanana Gusmao, a former resistance fighter and figurehead of the country's independence movement, is certain to defeat Francisco do Amaral, his only rival.

ECONOMIST: Asia's imminent addition elects its president

On April 21st he produced a peace agreement, signed in Jakarta by Mr Gusmao, and in Dili by leaders of the local pro-independence and pro-integration factions.

ECONOMIST: East Timor

Both Gusmao and Jos Ramos-Horta, the CNRT's No. 2 and de facto foreign minister, have reportedly proposed that Falintil troops could be integrated with the U.N.

CNN: Back in the Thick of It

In a separate meeting with Ms Bokova and Mr Brown, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao highlighted that a majority of Timor-Leste's population of just over one million were youth.

UNESCO: EDUCATION FIRST

Indonesia has refused Mr Horta permission to campaign and has said it will release Xanana Gusmao, the rebel leader, from house arrest in Jakarta only after the vote.

ECONOMIST: East Timor

For months Mr Gusmao had been urging restraint and reconciliation.

ECONOMIST: East Timor, adrift and violent