Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has resigned because of ill health.
The resignation comes just days after an affidavit surfaced in which he blamed Rio Tinto for starting the Bougainville war.
The 75 year old, who is regarded as the father of the nation, has been in and out of power since PNG gained its independence in 1975, but in his absence his coalition government has started to unravel.
The decision brings to an end a career spanning nearly 50 years and leaves Papua New Guinean politics in a state of flux.
Somare underwent heart surgery in Singapore earlier this year.
Since then his family has continually denied reports that he was seriously ill, but today his son Arthur announced that he is in a critical condition and has taken the decision to resign and leave politics altogether.
BAD YEAR
The quest for power and the battle to retain it has dominated Sir Michael Somare's life, but in recent weeks with his health in decline he had been urged by friends and foes to give it all up.
Health issues have not been Somare's only problems over the past year, he was also found guilty of filing late and incomplete tax returns.
However, it was his ill health that led to the current political instability.
For years, patronage and the power of his personality have seen him outfox his opponents and cling on to power.
He was the one who held everything together and now that he is weakened, the cohesion is probably falling apart.
HIGH LEVEL SACKINGS
Two weeks ago the acting prime minister Sam Abal moved against his rivals in the coalition, sacking the foreign minister and the petroleum minister
Mr Abal's office ignored repeated requests for an interview, but PNG's opposition leader Beldon Namah agreed to talk to SBS, saying he wants a new regime before 2012.
Namah is hoping to attract disaffected members of the governing coalition to his side and take power before next year's election.
"We are for the people by the people, so that's why we must represent the people out there," he said.
"We must listen to their cries, people want change, people have had enough, people are saying national alliance must go," he added.
Before Somare's resignation, Namah was trying to invoke an article of the constitution that would see two independent doctors assess his fitness to lead, in the hope of removing him.
