Fujimori extends stay in Japan for 'health reasons'

A smiling President Alberto Fujimori of Peru arrived in Tokyo from Brunei on Friday

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Peru's embattled President Alberto Fujimori has extended his stay in Japan for health reasons, the Jiji news agency said on Saturday.

But the official Peruvian state gazette said on Saturday that Fujimori was remaining in Japan to conduct aid negotiations. The gazette reported that Prime Minister Federico Salas had signed a resolution directing the president to do so.

Fujimori arrived in Tokyo on Friday en route home from a brief trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Brunei and was tightlipped about rumors he was seeking political asylum in the land of his forefathers.

The rumors that Fujimori, his grip on power slipping at home, might seek asylum in Asia surfaced after he flew to Brunei to spend just hours at the Asia-Pacific summit.

Fujimori had been due to leave Tokyo on Saturday afternoon to attend a weekend summit of Latin American leaders in Panama.

"Fujimori, who was to leave here for home on Saturday, is likely to stay longer due to his health condition," the Jiji news agency said, quoting officials at the Peruvian embassy in Tokyo.

Diplomats at Peru's embassy could not be reached for comment.

Airline officials at Tokyo's Narita airport said it was unlikely that Fujimori had departed because they had received no notice that a high-ranking foreign visitor would be leaving, as is normal practice.

Officials accompanying Fujimori have given no hint that he had health problems and said his trip to the land from which his parents migrated to seek their fortune in Peru would be brief.

SEEKING MONEY

Fujimori spent Friday meeting Japanese bank officials and was seeking at least $300 million to help Peru's ailing state finances, Economy Minister Carlos Bolona said in Lima.

He met Hiroshi Yasuda, governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, a governmental institution that helps developing countries and handles overseas development aid -- including to Peru. The bank extended a 45 billion yen ($413.6 million) loan to Lima in September.

"The president... expressed his firm determination to ensure a democratic transition with the least possible conflict to ensure social stability and a climate conducive to economic viability," the embassy said.

Peruvian Consul-General Sanchez Gomez said Fujimori was expected to attend the summit in Panama. Other officials said he might fly straight home to Lima.

A bribery scandal involving Fujimori's fugitive ex-spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, plunged Peru into political crisis two months ago, prompting the president to announce he would quit in July after elections in April, four years early.

Fujimori has said he will not run in the elections.

He suffered a new blow at home on Thursday when Peru's opposition took over the powerful presidency of Congress for the first time in eight years, further eroding his grip on power and opening the way for possible moves to oust him.

TURMOIL CASTS DOUBT ON FUTURE

In Lima, political analysts said that even if the opposition did not immediately try to oust Fujimori, the presidency of Congress would give them the means to push him out of office if Peru's political turmoil took a turn for the worse.

With imminent changes in the cabinet, there appeared no respite to the crisis, which was aggravated further when the government felt obliged to deny reports that Fujimori was seeking political asylum in Malaysia.

Peru's political turmoil has centered on Montesinos, who fled to Panama after the scandal broke in September but defied Fujimori three weeks ago by returning to Peru and sparking a major manhunt led personally by the president.

The ex-spy chief is now wanted on a host of charges from money laundering to ordering torture and murder after some $58 million was found in overseas bank accounts linked to him.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz)

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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