(For related story see TIMOR/ or [ID:nJAK39845])

April 29 (Reuters) - The leader of a group of East Timor rebels and 12 of his men accused of trying to assassinate President Jose Ramos-Horta surrendered on Tuesday, raising hopes the troubled young nation can find some rare stability.

The country is rich in energy resources such as oil and natural gas, but is only beginning to tap them, while most of its one million people live in poverty.

Here is a timeline detailing political instability and events in East Timor since independence in 2002:

- May 20, 2002: East Timor becomes an independent nation, after a period of U.N. administration following an historic 1999 vote that ends Indonesia's post-1975 occupation. Former guerrilla leader and independence hero Xanana Gusmao becomes president.

- Dec 4: Capital Dili under curfew after rioting blamed on regrouping Indonesian-backed militiamen. Several people are shot dead in clashes and the prime minister's house is burned down.

- March 9, 2005: Indonesia and East Timor launch a joint truth commission to address a bloody rampage surrounding the vote on independence in 1999, when about 1,000 were killed, mostly by pro-Jakarta militia.

- March 16, 2006: Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri sacks 600 of the 1,400-strong army on charges of desertion. The move inflames the country's east-west divide and unleashes months of chaos in which an estimated 150,000 people were displaced and 37 killed. Many of the displaced still remain in refugee camps.

- July 10: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta sworn in as interim prime minister two weeks after Alkatiri, accused by critics of being responsible for the crisis, steps down.

- Aug. 30: Major Alfredo Reinado, one of the figureheads of the May revolt, walks out of a Dili jail with 50 other inmates.

- March 5, 2007: Thousands take to the streets, burning tyres and blocking roads, to protest against an attempt by foreign troops to capture Reinado.

- May 20: Ramos-Horta sworn in as the country's second president after elections.

- Aug. 6: New coalition government led by Gusmao sworn in by Ramos-Horta to end political stalemate. Violence breaks out following day as Fretilin supporters decry Gusmao's appointment as prime minister.

- Feb. 11, 2008: Reinado is killed and Ramos-Horta shot in an early morning rebel attack on the president's house. Ramos-Horta is airlifted to Australia for surgery.

Gusmao escapes a similar separate attack that leaves his car riddled with bullets.

- Feb. 12: Interim President Vicente Guterres declares a state of emergency, which is lifted on April 22 except in one district where rebels believed to be hiding.

- Apr. 29: Gastao Salsinha, who took command of the rebels after Reinado's death, surrenders to authorities along with 12 others. (Writing by Candida Ng, Singapore Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Ed Davies)

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