Algeria’s president resigns amid protests

Demonstrators demand total removal of regime as they celebrate end to ailing leader’s 20-year reign

Demonstrators in Algeria have vowed to continue protesting against their government, demanding that the entire regime is dismantled. Crowds celebrated in the streets of Algiers yesterday at the news that Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the country’s 82-year-old president, had resigned after 20 years in office, handing power to a caretaker government. Protesters said the fall of Mr Bouteflika would not satisfy their demands for complete democratic reform.

Raf Sanchez and

Maher Mezahi in Algiers

ALGERIAN demonstrators have vowed to continue mass protests against their government, saying the resignation of the president is not enough and they want the removal of the entire regime. Crowds celebrated in the streets of Algiers yesterday at the news that Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the country’s ailing 82-year-old president, had resigned after 20 years in office, handing power to a caretaker government.

Protesters said the fall of Mr Bouteflika would not satisfy their demands for complete democratic reform in the north African country.

“I’m not happy because we still have the same political system. I’m going to keep going out until there’s a second republic,” said Saadia, a 30-year-old French-algerian who joined a crowd near the University of Algiers. The demonstrations began six weeks ago when it was announced Mr Bouteflika planned to stand for a fifth term as president. Algerian authorities were taken aback at the scale of dissent and on March 11 the government said that Mr Bouteflika, rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, had withdrawn his candidacy.

But the marches continued and last week Lt Gen Ahmed Gaed Salah, head of the national army, called for Mr Bouteflika to step aside, making the president’s position untenable. He resigned on Tuesday night “out of respect for the hearts and minds of my compatriots and to enable them to plan together for a better future for Algeria”, a statement read.

The overthrow of Mr Bouteflika was hailed in rebel-held areas of Syria and by protesters in Sudan as a sign that the aims of the Arab Spring were not yet completely crushed.

While the demonstrators savour their victory in the streets of Algiers, it remains unclear what will happen next and whether the government and military are prepared to make more concessions towards democracy. The head of the Algerian parliament, 76-year-old Abdelkader Bensalah, has taken over as acting president and under the nation’s law the country should hold elections within 90 days. It is far from clear who might succeed Mr Bouteflika.

The demonstrators fear that power could remain in the hands of the elite who had formed around the former president – a mix of businessmen, members of the ruling National Liberation Front party and ageing veterans of the 1954-1962 independence war against France. The military, which has repeatedly intervened in Algerian politics in past decades, could play a decisive role despite its claim that its “sole ambition” is to protect the public from government leaders who have “unduly taken over the wealth of the Algerian people”.

The uprising in the oil-rich state has been watched closely by world powers. The US State Department said it was “for the Algerian people to decide” the future of the country.

Russia, historically a close ally of Mr Bouteflika’s government, said that Western powers should not interfere.