PRESIDENT Jose Ramos Horta spoke of his concern for the people of East Timor after waking up from a drug-induced coma in Royal Darwin Hospital's intensive care unit.
The country's Deputy Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres said after visiting the hospital yesterday that Mr Ramos Horta mentioned to his family to take care of the people of East Timor after slowly waking up 10 days after he was shot and seriously wounded outside his house on Dili's outskirts.
Mr Guterres said East Timorese people were immensely proud of Mr Ramos Horta and expected him to resume his position as head of the country when he recovers.
Paul Goldrick, acting director of the intensive care unit, said that Mr Ramos Horta spoke only a few words and would remain in the unit for some time.
But he expected him to make a full recovery.
"It may take a few months," Dr Goldrick said.
Mr Ramos Horta, who suffered a serious chest wound, has undergone five operations at the hospital since he was flown from Dili hours after being shot soon after dawn on February 11.
Dozens of world leaders have flooded the hospital with get-well messages for the Nobel laureate.
Three FBI agents have arrived in Dili to help investigate the attacks on Mr Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, which plunged the country into renewed crisis.
Seventy Australian Federal Police also arrived in Dili two days after the attacks, which investigators believe were botched kidnap attempts.
Australian SAS elite commandos are leading the hunt for a group of about 20 heavily armed men who have vowed never to surrender.
José Ramos-Horta in 2006.
The President of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, has woken from the induced coma he was put in following an assassination attempt. The President, who was shot by rebels on February 11, is still in a serious condition requiring more surgery, but is recovering, according to the doctors treating him at the Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, Australia.

Jose Luis Guterres, the East Timorese Deputy Prime Minister, has flown to Darwin, and says that one of the President's first concerns upon regaining consciousness was for his country. "One of his first words was to mention to his close relatives to look after the people of East Timor," he said.