Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is seen while voting at a
polling station in the capital Algiers during polls for local elections,
November 23, 2017. PHOTO | RYAD KRAMDI | AFP
Algeria's ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika submitted his
resignation with immediate effect, state media said Tuesday, ceding
power in the face of massive street protests after two decades at the
helm.
Car horns sounded on the streets before crowds of
flag-waving people emerged from their homes and converged in the centre
of the capital Algiers to celebrate.
Bouteflika
"officially advised the Constitutional Council of the end of his term of
office as President of the Republic", state television reported.
"I
have the honour to formally notify you of my decision to terminate my
term of office as President of the Republic from today, Tuesday," state
news agency APS quoted his resignation letter as saying.
"This
decision which I take in my soul and conscience is destined to
contribute to the appeasement of the hearts and minds of my compatriots,
to allow them to take Algeria towards a better future to which they
legitimately aspire," it added.
Footage
showed Bouteflika, dressed in a beige gandoura (North African tunic)
and sitting in his wheelchair, handing his resignation letter to the
head of the Constitutional Council, Tayeb Belaiz.
Long accused of clinging to power, the veteran
leader faced mounting pressure to step down after his decision to seek a
fifth term despite rarely being seen in public since suffering a stroke
in 2013.
The 82-year-old said last
month he would pull out of the bid for another term, and on Monday his
office said he would resign before his mandate expires at the end of the
month.
The moves failed to satisfy
protesters who feared a ploy to extend his rule and the armed forces
chief called for him to leave power.
Cheer
The announcement of his resignation sparked jubilation in the capital.
Youths
cheered and waved the Algerian national flag at Grande Post square, the
epicentre of the protest against his rule in downtown Algiers, an AFP
cameraman reported from the scene.
The United States said the future of Algeria was now up to its people.
"Questions
about how to navigate this transition in Algeria, that is for the
Algerian people to decide," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino
told reporters.
French Foreign
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Bouteflika's decision to step down
marked the turning of "an important page in the history of Algeria".
"We
are confident in the ability of all Algerians to continue this
democratic transition in the same spirit of calm and responsibility"
that has prevailed in recent weeks, Le Drian added in a statement.
Algeria's
constitution says that once the president officially resigns the
speaker of the upper house of parliament, 77-year-old Abdelkader
Bensalah, acts as interim leader for up to 90 days during which a
presidential election must be organised.
The
resignation came shortly after the military demanded impeachment
proceedings be launched against Bouteflika, responding to Monday's
announcement that the president would resign by the end of his term on
April 28.
Armed forces chief Ahmed
Gaid Salah had called for "the immediate application of the
constitutional procedure for removing the head of state from power", in a
defence ministry statement after a meeting of top brass.
Without
naming anyone, Gaid Salah criticised "the stubbornness, the
procrastination and the deviousness of certain individuals who are
trying to make the crisis last and make it more complex with the only
concern being their narrow personal interests".
He
said the army's "sole ambition" was to "protect the people from a
handful of (other) people who have unduly taken over the wealth of the
Algerian people".
A long-time Bouteflika ally, the
general last week called on the president to resign or be declared unfit
to rule, becoming one of the first of his faithful supporters to
abandon him.
Corruption suspects
As
rumours have swirled of frantic behind-the-scenes manoeuvring,
prosecutors on Monday announced they had banned corruption suspects from
leaving Algeria after launching graft probes against unnamed
individuals.
The authorities did not
say who was being targeted by probes into corruption and illegal money
transfers abroad, but they followed the arrest of the president's key
backer, businessman tycoon Ali Haddad.
Haddad, who Forbes magazine
describes as one of Algeria's wealthiest entrepreneurs, was detained at
the weekend at a border post with neighbouring Tunisia.
Bouteflika
had named a new government on Sunday, made up mainly of technocrats
under recently appointed premier Noureddine Bedoui.
The
administration—supposed to steer the country towards
transition—included General Gaid Salah remaining in his position as
deputy defence minister.
Among the
other key Bouteflika backers is his younger brother and special adviser
Said, who was frequently cited in the past as a likely successor to the
president.
Discreet and rarely seen
in public, Said Bouteflika has exerted increasing influence behind the
scenes as his brother's health worsened, but the president's resignation
could take away much of his power.
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