Peru's President Fujimori to quit - cabinet resigns Eds

"The president does not wish to be an obstacle," Prime Minister Federico Salas said on Sunday in Lima after making an official announcement. The resignation plans were confirmed by aides to Fujimori in Tokyo, where the Peruvian president was visiting amid rumours he might seek asylum in Asia. Japanese news reports, quoting Fujimori's presidential office, said he would resign by Tuesday morning (Tokyo time). However, the presidential statement provided no details on Fujimori's travel plans. Fujimori, 62, who was elected to a third term in office earlier this year in elections regarded by many as tainted by vote-rigging, was in Japan, the country of his parents. The announcement on Sunday that he would step down led to the resignation of the entire cabinet following a four-hour meeting at the home of the economics minister, Carlos Bolona. A statement said the cabinet ministers were angered at Fujimori's resignation, and condemned the announcement being made while he was out of the country.

The ministers said they would continue to perform their cabinet duties until a transitional government is formed and "to contribute to maintaining political stability". The ministers also denied being responsible for "the deterioration of the political situation". Peru's second vice president, Ricardo Marquez, is running the presidential office in Lima in view of Fujimori's absence and the earlier resignation of the first vice president, Francisco Tudela. The joint chiefs of staff of the Peruvian armed forces issued a statement pledging "to abide absolutely by the decisions taken by the legitimately constituted authorities". Fujimori has been facing growing criticism since his security chief Vladimiro Montesinos was revealed to have been bribing opposition members of Congress to defect to the government faction. Montesinos is being sought on charges of murder, torture, corruption and self-enrichment. Fujimori, who will have to present his resignation formally to Congress, will be replaced by Marquez. But it is expected that he, too, will face strong pressure to resign and hand over power to the president of the congress, Valentin Paniagua, a member of the opposition. Fujimori was scheduled to return home on Wednesday but there were doubts he would be back in Lima in the immediate future.

Marquez said he was prepared to take office until new presidential elections, which are scheduled for early 2001. Meanwhile opposition leader Alejandro Toledo called Fujimori's intended resignation "a victory for democracy". Speaking at Madrid-Barajas airport after making a stopover on a flight back to Lima from Paris, he added: "It has been a long road but now we have reached our goal." Toledo, who was Fujimori's challenger at the last presidential elections, broke off a European tour including a planned three-day visit to Madrid. He said the threat of a military takeover was "extremely unlikely". Fujimori, an agricultural scientist, was largely unknown when he easily beat a famous rival in author Mario Vargas Llosa to win the 1990 presidential elections. Known in Peru as "El Chino", a geographically incorrect reference to his Japanese origins, Fujimori ruled with an iron hand, earning a reputation as a dictator in all but name. On taking power Peru's economy was in deep crisis with inflation rampant. The guerrilla organization Shining Path controlled large areas of the country. Fujimori succeeded in getting the economy back on an even keel. The guerrillas, the most brutal in South America, were vanquished and its leader, Abimael Guzman, arrested. For the first time in years it became possible to travel safely by land across the country.

In 1992, Fujimori dissolved Congress in what was known as a "state coup from above". Although against democratic principles the suspicion of corruption in Congress meant the move did nothing to diminish his popularity. Fujimori was reelected in 1995 with a huge majority. Two years later he was helped by Montesinos to one of his greatest triumphs when the army was able to free hostages held for months by guerrillas who had stormed the Japanese embassy in Lima. It was Montesinos, the lawyer who became Fujimori's adviser and later chief of security, who has been chiefly involved in the rise and fall of the president. He has played a shady role in the country's politics. One allegation is that he even forged Fujimori's birth certificate to show he was born in Peru rather than Japan, thus enabling him to run in the 1990 elections. Montesinos also organized a dirty war against the opposition to prevent them winning elections earlier this year. Fujimori ran for a third term in what the opposition claimed violated the constitution. Finally, amid allegations of vote rigging, the opposition boycotted run-off polls on May 28.

Montesinos's - and eventually Fujimori's - downfall came with evidence of opposition members being offered bribes to join the governing faction. "It was at core a gangster-like government," said the opposition deputy Fernando Olivera Sunday.

(dpa)