Sydney  - East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has decided against trying to become the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, fearing it would disrupt his newly independent country, news reports from Dili said Friday.

The 58-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate told reporters in East Timor's capital that moving to New York might disturb the delicate political balance in East Timor, which won independence six years ago.

"An early departure from my current responsibility would result in early elections, and this would be an unfair burden on a people who went to the polls three times in 2007," Australia broadcaster ABC reported Ramos-Horta as saying. "Inevitably, new tensions would resurface with predictable consequences for the country."

UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour was due to step down at the end of the month, and Ramos-Horta had garnered support from around the world to be her successor.

He is still recovering from gunshot wounds sustained in February when rebels launched twin assassination attempts on himself and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Gusmao escaped without injury.

Ramos-Horta was the former Portuguese colony's top diplomat during the 23 years it sought independence from Indonesia. That role and his fight for the oppressed people of his country helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

He was prime minister until winning a five-year term as the largely ceremonial president in last year's election.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and its occupation continued until 1999, the year Australia led an international force that, along with UN administration, helped guide the overwhelmingly Catholic nation of 1 million to independence. (dpa)