Algerian president Bouteflika announces new gov't amid protests
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced a news.cn/en/tag/i0xngaj3163f76200c981b/index.html" target="_blank">new caretaker government amid weeks of mass protests demanding his resignation, the Country's national television said on Sunday night.
The announcement come after the army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah, renews.cn/en/tag/i0xngaj3163f76200c981b/index.html" target="_blank">newed a call on Saturday for the Constitutional Council to declare the ailing 82-year-old Bouteflika unfit to rule.
Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui, who took office on March 11, will head the news.cn/en/tag/i0xngaj3163f76200c981b/index.html" target="_blank">new administration, reported the Country's state TV.
Central bank governor Mohamed Loukal was named as finance minister, while the former head of the state power and gas utility Mohamed Arkab will be energy minister, APS said.
Sabri Boukadoum, a former envoy to the United Nations, becomes foreign minister and replaces Ramtane Lamamra, who spent less than a month in the role.
Salah kept his position as deputy defense minister in the reshuffle, according to state media. Bouteflika kept his title as defense minister.
Bouteflika also named the communications minister, Hassane Rabhi, as government spokesman, a rarely filled post in what critics say has been a secretive administration.
6th Friday of protest against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, March 29, 2019. /VCG Photo
Bouteflika might resign this week
Hours later, the private Ennahar and El Bilad TV channels said Bouteflika might resign this week. They believed the news.cn/en/tag/i0xngaj3163f76200c981b/index.html" target="_blank">new caretaker government might be a signal that Bouteflika could resign.
El Bilad TV, quoting unnamed sources, said he would quit this week. Ennahar said Bouteflika was preparing his resignation in accordance with article 102 of the constitution, which allows him to quit or face the verdict of the constitutional council whether he is still fit for office.
State media did not report similar reports, and there was no immediate comment from the presidency.
Bouteflika, who has rarely been in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. And thousands took to the streets of the capital against the 81-year-old leader's decision to stand in the April 18 presidential election, when he announced to seek a fifth term in February.
Seeking to defuse the demonstrations, Bouteflika said on March 11 he was dropping plans for a fifth term. But he stopped short of stepping down immediately, to wait for a national conference on political change which further enraged protesters, prompting Lieutenant General, Ahmed Gaed Salah, to step in by proposing last week to ask the constitutional council to see whether he is still fit for office.
Late on Sunday, hundreds took to the streets in the capital, demand Bouteflika go, according to residents and pictures posted on social media.
Algerian students demonstrate in the capital Algiers against President Abdelaziz to postpone the upcoming presidential elections term, March 26, 2019. /VCG Photo
Change?
Demonstrators have rejected military intervention in civilian matters and want to dismantle the entire ruling elite, which includes veterans from the war of independence against France, army officers, the ruling party and business tycoons.
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of Algiers for more than a month, complaining of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement they say has tarnished Bouteflika's rule.
"The whole system must disappear immediately. Our battle will continue," 25-year-old student Noureddine Habi said in central Algiers.
But two opposition leaders have supported the army initiative.
"The merit of this approach is that it responds to a pressing popular demand," Ali Benflis, a former head of the ruling FLN party, said in a party statement. "We are facing a political, constitutional and institutional crisis."
Abderazak Makri, head of an Islamist party, said he was against anything that threatened the stability and unity of the Country or undermined the military.
Several close allies, including some members of the ruling FLN and union leaders, have abandoned Bouteflika.
The secretary-general of the United Nations said on Sunday he welcomed efforts toward a peaceful and democratic transition in Algeria.
Addressing an Arab League summit in Tunis, Antonio Guterres said any steps should be made in a way "that addresses the concerns of the Algerian people in a timely way."
(Cover image: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and army chief, Ahmed Gaid Salah, Algiers, June 27, 2012. /VCG Photo)
