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PARIS – The Algerian president resigned Tuesday night under pressure from the army after several weeks of demonstrations, nailing the reign of the oldest leader in North Africa, without ending a political stalemate in a country where the street demands revolutionary changes.
The official news agency said President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ill and paralyzed and who had not spoken to his compatriots for seven years, had resigned.
His departure followed quickly after a statement by the Algerian army chief of staff, the traditional arbiter of political life in the country, calling for an "immediate" declaration by the constitutional council that Mr. Bouteflika was not fit to perform his duties.
Mr. Bouteflika, president for 20 years, had sought to extend his power, pushed by members of his family and other members of the Algerian ruling elite who wanted "the preservation of their narrow personal interests," the chief of staff of the army, General Ahmed Gaid. Salah, said Tuesday night.
The general's statement was sufficient to force Mr. Bouteflika to leave. Only a day earlier, the president had announced his resignation before the end of his term on April 28, but that was not fast enough, neither for the army nor for the protesters.
It was an unglamorous end to a nearly 60-year career and one of the most treacherous policies in the Arab world, in a country that is one of the world's leading producers of oil and gas and is considered a bulwark against Islamist terrorism.
The Algerian revolution of 2019, peaceful and centered on its claim for a radical change, silenced the authoritarian neighbors, from Egypt to the Gulf, through Sudan, who managed to thwart the street and had hoped that this type of revolt was behind them.
Mr. Bouteflika began in the 1960s as the youngest foreign minister in the world, as an advisor to one of the Algerian revolutionary leaders. He spent many years in exile after being dishonored as a result of a financial scandal in the late 1970s.
He returned to politics at the request of the country's generals to heal the wounds of a fierce civil war. He became president in 1999 and quickly strengthened his reputation as a master laborer by entering into an agreement with insurgent Islamists.
But finally, handicapped by a serious disability, manipulated by his immediate entourage and blinded – according to those who know him – by years in power, he pushed too far, seeking a fifth term.
This provoked the anger of a population then conceded, who took to the streets on February 22nd and has not left since.
For the moment, the Algerians seem to be grappling with much of the remnants of the Bouteflika power structure, even with the resignation of the president.
Wanting to clearly maintain control after his departure on Sunday, Bouteflika set up a new government on Sunday night and, worryingly, promised "important decisions" before retiring.
The words rang the alarm all over the country. Algerians, well aware of the behavior of their president reputation of cunning political operator, welcomed the announcement with deep suspicion. They do not want "continuity" with any part of Mr. Bouteflika's long regime. They want a clean start.
On Tuesday evening, the army, anxious to declare itself in step with the broader popular movement, said Mr. Bouteflika should leave immediately.
What comes next is uncertain.
Ministers appointed by Bouteflika as a gesture of separation could remain in office for several months.
The protesters may want a clean break, but there is no certainty that the military will accept this or circumvent the constitutional provisions that provide for the appointment of the Senate Speaker, an ally of Bouteflika, as interim president until that elections be organized. outfit.
Algeria has experienced democracy only in ephemeral interludes. The only election that clearly reflects popular sentiment is a vote for the Islamists in 1991, after which the military intervenes, cancels a second round and unleashes a brutal civil war that killed more than 100,000 people.
However, the crowds that have been invading the streets of Algiers since February 22 – remarkably peaceful, festive and determined – seem to believe that, if one wants to establish a democracy, the country must rebuild everything after decades of corrupt authoritarian rule.
That's why they shout "System clears!" or, "System, lose yourself!", they insist, all the state apparatus with its fake legalism and its compromised nomenklatura must disappear.
Like his political master, Mr. Bouteflika, although barely able to make a painful grimace, seemed to exploit the vagueness of the demands of the crowd. The president – or at least those around him – spoke of "continuity" and "transition".
But the army had lost patience.
Tuesday night, the impbade between General Salah and the circle of Mr. Bouteflika has increased while the general accused "some individuals" to prolong the crisis. According to a statement from the army, the general questions about "this handful of people" who have "accumulated immense wealth by illegal means", which is a blow to the men of Africa. 39, affairs close to Mr. Bouteflika.
He called for the "immediate" application of the constitutional provisions that hold Mr. Bouteflika unfit.
In the end, Bouteflika "played like a liar," said Abdelaziz Rahabi, one of his former cabinet ministers now in opposition, in an interview Tuesday afternoon before the president resigned. The goal, he said: "to have guarantees for himself and his family".
A flamboyant and mustachioed Foreign Minister, Bouteflika symbolized the Third World's pugnacity of the 1960s. Later, as a skilful leader, he drew a common thread under the shocking violence of the Algerian civil war of the 1990s, at the price of a voluntary national amnesia.
And always, Mr. Bouteflika turned out to be a survivor.
"He had the reputation of being particularly adroit and cunning, not a convinced politician, nor anyone who clearly defends a principle," said Hugh Roberts, Algerian expert at Tufts University,
His tenacity was a lesson learned during a very long career. In 1965, he helped his mentor, Colonel Houari Boumediene, to overthrow revolutionary leader Ahmed Ben Bella.
After Mr. Boumediene's death in 1979, Mr. Bouteflika was accused of embezzlement and "almost went to jail," Algerian political sociologist Nacer Djabi said.
Bouteflika was accused of placing money from the Foreign Ministry in Swiss bank accounts, journalist Mohamed Benchicou reported in his book "The Mystery Bouteflika".. "
"His reputation has tarnished," said political scientist Louisa Ait Hamadouche.
The lesson of Mr. Bouteflika and his entourage: "We must stay in power until the end of the presidency," said Mr. Djabi.
"He can not reform," said Djabi, "because he does not believe in democracy or politics."
His former minister, Mr. Rahabi, said that Mr. Bouteflika's obstinacy was dangerous.
"He has a suicidal obsession with power," said Rahabi.
By rejecting Bouteflika in a hitherto peaceful revolution and forcing the army to take sides, Algerian protesters have already achieved better results than those recorded in many countries in the Arab Spring of 2011.
"It's a whole population that is waking up after a long period of national hibernation," said Zoubir Arous, a sociologist.
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