Fujimori 'to quit in 48 hours'

LIMA, Peru -- Peru's prime minister Federico Salas has said that the country's president, Alberto Fujimori, is to resign within 48 hours.

Salas made the announcement on Peruvian radio Sunday morning, saying Fujimori's cabinet members would also offer their resignations this week..

Fujimori is in Tokyo, from where he will send the resignation letter within two days, said Salas.

"I have to confirm that President Fujimori will present his letter of resignation as president by Monday or Tuesday at the latest," Salas told RPP Radio, according to the Reuters news agency.

Fujimori said in September he would quit in July in the wake of a corruption scandal involving his former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.

He has called elections for April, four years early, and said he would not run.

Fujimori extended his stay in Japan amid growing confusion on Saturday, with Peruvian officials saying he wanted to secure a loan and Japanese media citing health reasons.

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 the embattled 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.

In Lima, a supreme resolution signed by Salas said Fujimori "should stay in Japan until Nov. 22 to continue his negotiations to secure a credit from that country aimed at balancing the budget for 2001."

Fujimori was heavily criticized for flying to Asia on trade trips this week despite an intensifying nine-week-old political crisis at home that has forced him to announce he will step down in July after elections four years early.

Security was tight outside Fujimori's room in a smart central Tokyo hotel.

Officials accompanying Fujimori had 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.

However, Peruvian media have been openly suspicious about Fujimori's reasons for travelling.

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.

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.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Peruvian Congress
Embassy of Peru - Washington, DC

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