Algeria’s President Promises to Resign, and to Leave His Mark

ALGEIRS (Capital Markets in Africa) –  Battered by more than a month of protests, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he would step down before the end of his fourth term on April 28, but suggested he would still craft the foundations of the transition to come.

The announcement on Monday appeared aimed at avoiding what could be a military-sanctioned, and embarrassing, constitutional push to have him declared unfit for office. It was also unclear whether it would do much to dampen the weeks of protests that only grew louder in the face of apparent defiance by him and his backers to demands from demonstrators.

 “This is too little, too late,” said Anthony Skinner, Middle East and North Africa director at Verisk Maplecroft in London. “I doubt protesters will settle for anything short of a nominally independent transition team, plus free and fair elections.”

The move by the ailing 82-year-old leader, however, seemed likely to fall far short of that, and protests resumed Tuesday, with hundreds of students demonstrating to demand regime change.

Citing a statement from the presidency, the official APS news agency said the transitional period would begin with the departure of the man who has led the OPEC member since 1999. Bouteflika who would take “important steps to ensure continuity in the functioning of state institutions” during those changes, it said.

The president has replaced the government, and Algerian media was rife with speculation that the next step would be to name a new head of parliament’s upper house. That person, under the constitution, would temporarily inherit the presidency, meaning Bouteflika would essentially be handpicking his successor.

The protests against Bouteflika, which began on Feb. 22, have mushroomed to encompass calls for the complete removal of a ruling regime viewed as corrupt by the youth that make up the majority of the country’s 42 million people. Protesters had been backed in recent weeks by unions and political parties.

The tide turned against Bouteflika last week when long-time ally and army chief of staff Ahmed Gaid Salah said it was time to invoke a constitutional article that could see the president declared unfit for office.

“This looks like it was effectively the outcome of a compromise between the army and the Bouteflika faction after the statement by the chief of staff,” said Riccardo Fabiani, senior analyst on geopolitics for Energy Aspects. “It was clear that he couldn’t stay in power for long.”

The drama unfolding in Algeria is being closely watched across the Mediterranean. Under Bouteflika, Europe’s third-largest gas supplier has been a bulwark against Islamist militancy and illegal migration from other parts of Africa. Unrest in Algeria could be felt beyond its borders.

The upheaval began when Bouteflika, incapacitated by a stroke in 2013 and rarely seen in public since, announced a bid to run for a fifth term in office in the face of popular opposition.

He quickly backtracked on his re-election plan but pledged to stay in office to shepherd the country through a transition that would include drafting a new constitution. His proposal was swiftly rejected on the streets, where protesters began to call for the removal of the entire political elite that has ruled the country for decades.

Fabiani said that the latest arrangement was “all part of their script.”

“The script is always the same. The regime, even though it’s divided internally, doesn’t want to let go of power,” he said. “They’re open to the transition, but only on their terms.”

In its statement, the presidency said the appointment of a new government on Sunday would be followed by other decisions to ensure the continuity of state institutions.

The announcement capped a day of tumult in the oil exporter, with authorities moving against several influential businessmen by launching corruption investigations and banning them from travel, the APS news agency reported. Among the men were three seen as particularly close to Bouteflika.

The investigations appeared to be a response by authorities to protester demands for a crackdown on the business elite that’s seen as key to Bouteflika’s survival. They, along with military officials and some members of the ruling FLN, are among “le pouvoir” — a loosely-defined group seen as the backbone of the ruling regime.

Source: Bloomberg Business News