The 58-year-old Ghimpu and his pro-Western coalition, dubbed the 'Alliance for European Integration', seek closer ties with the European Union and want to take the former Soviet republic out of Russia's sphere of influence.
VOA: standard.2009.08.29
The pro-integration armed groups, in turn, use this to argue that they cannot disarm unilaterally, thus creating an intricate situation.
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.
But peel the onion, and one arrives at the inescapable conclusion that the core conflict is the very division within society between those who wish to be part of Indonesia (the pro-integration group) and those who wish to form a separate East Timorese state (the pro-independence one).