Mari Alkatiri

Mari Alkatiri

Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri (born 26 November 1949) was the first Prime Minister of an internationally-recognized East Timor. He served from May 2002 until he resigned on 26 June 2006 following weeks of political unrest in the country. He is the Secretary-General of the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN).

He is Hadhrami Arab by ethnicity and comes from the Al-Kathiri tribe a branch of which was also the Royal family of Seiyun that is now part of Yemen. He is one of very few Muslim politicians in a country that is 97% Catholic.