BRAHIMI SAYS NOT YET ASKED TO LEAD ALGERIA TRANSITION

▶ But the former Arab League official would be happy to take on the ‘duty to my country’

Lakhdar Brahimi denied yesterday that he had been given the task of leading a national committee for Algeria’s transition talks.

“I have not been appointed, but in the case that I will be, I shall accept the task because it is a duty to my country,” Mr Brahimi said.

The announcement, made during an interview with Algerian state television, followed a report by Reuters on Tuesday in which a source said the government wanted Mr Brahimi, 85, to head the country’s political process.

“There must be a broad consensus on who will preside over the transitional talks,” Mr Brahimi said. Algeria needs a “genuine transitional dialogue that will have common ground”.

The former Arab League official warned against foreign intervention, saying this often had a “devastating effect”.

Mr Brahimi also denied that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s health was deteriorating, as had been widely reported after his admission to a hospital in Geneva.

“He is in a stable condition,” Mr Brahimi said. He said the president was aware of his surroundings.

Mr Bouteflika finally yielded to protests on Monday by postponing elections and dropping plans to stand for another term.

The US State Department, meanwhile, said it supported “efforts in Algeria to chart a new path forward based on dialogue that reflects the will of all Algerians and their aspirations for a peaceful and prosperous future”.

But Algerian teachers demanded that Mr Bouteflika step down now or at the latest when his current term ends next month.

The teachers gathered outside the central post office in the capital Algiers yesterday to protest against the decision to delay next month’s election.

Algerian media reported teachers’ protests in other cities too. Opposition parties also held a meeting in Algiers to plan their next steps.

Thousands of protesters returned to Algeria’s streets on Tuesday after jubilation over Mr Bouteflika’s vow not to seek re-election gave way to fears of a plot to prolong his twodecade rule.

After initial celebration, thousands of students, along with some lecturers, held a new protest in the capital on Tuesday, accusing Mr Bouteflika of tricks.

“The students are resisting the extension of the fourth mandate,” they chanted in an Algiers square that has been the epicentre of protests demanding Mr Bouteflika’s resignation. Protesters held up signs saying: “No extra time. This is not a football match.”

Students also took to the streets of Oran and Constantine, where they were joined by academics.

The president announced on Monday that a “national conference” would set a new date for polls, but that he would not contest them.

“There will not be a fifth term” and “there will be no presidential election on April 18”, he said.

The veteran leader, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said he was responding to “a pressing demand that you have been numerous in making to me”.

National television broadcast footage on Monday night of Mr Bouteflika in his trademark three-piece suit talking to several senior officials.

Mr Bouteflika has said his final act as president would be to usher in a new system that would be in “the hands of a new generation of Algerians”.

The “inclusive and independent” national conference that Mr Brahimi was reportedly tipped to lead would be tasked with drafting a new constitution and setting a date for elections by the end of this year.

It is likely to include prominent war veterans as well as representatives of the protest movement.

Teachers took to the streets of Algiers yesterday to demand Mr Bouteflika step down when his term ends