Peru PM to quit over land disputes | World News |Axisoflogic.com

The Peruvian prime minister has said he plans to resign in the coming weeks following the deaths of dozens of people in clashes between indigenous groups and police over land laws.

Yehude Simon told Peruvian radio on Tuesday he would step down, a day after apologising to indigenous leaders and saying the government had failed to win their support before passing the laws.

Simon's move comes after at least 34 people died in bloody clashes between police and protesters in northern Peru earlier this month.

The protesters had said the laws would make it easier for businesses to exploit their ancestral Amazon lands for oil, gas and other ventures.

Simon, who had faced calls to step down over the crisis, said he would stay in his job long enough to persuade congress to repeal the laws.

Special powers

Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo said that Simon's move means the Peruvian president will not have to think twice and consult the indigenous leaders on what will happen in the Amazon in the future.

Alan Garcia, the Peruvian president, whose approval rating stands at 30 per cent, had issued a series of decrees last year using special powers that congress had given him to implement a free-trade agreement with the US.

Peru's indigenous leaders launched strikes in April, saying that the government did not consult them in good faith before signing contracts that could affect at least 30,000 people across six of the nation's provinces.

There were reports that the strikes were easing in the roads and riverways of north-eastern Peru on Tuesday, while an important east-west highway was reopened on Monday.

Repercussions

Antonio Brack, Peru's environment minister, said on Monday that the government would ask congress to repeal the land laws, after a delegation led by Simon met indigenous leaders in the central Peruvian Amazon jungle town of Mazamari.

Brack said the government also offered to end a state of emergency and the curfew in Amazonas state, where the bulk of the confrontations occurred.

Repercussions from the violence have rocked the government, with Carmen Vildoso, the women's affairs minister, also resigning last week following the government's crackdown on protesters.

Last Wednesday Nicaragua granted political asylum to a protest leader charged with sedition.

Alberto Pizango had accused the Peruvian government of "genocide" following Friday's clashes.

Al Jazeera