ALGIERS, Algeria — Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down on Tuesday after 20 years in office, and six weeks of massive nationwide protests aimed at pushing him and his much-criticized inner circle from power to create a real democracy in the gas-rich nation.
The announcement followed soon after a sternly-worded call from the powerful army chief for Bouteflika, 82 and ailing, to “immediately” bow out.
Crowds celebrated peacefully in the capital Algiers soon after his announcement. Honking car horns, singing songs and waving Algerian flags, hundreds gathered Tuesday night at the central post office — a plaza that has become a symbol of the protest movement. Police watched from the sidelines.
The Constitutional Council was expected to convene Wednesday to formalize his departure. Under the constitution, the president of the upper house, the Council of Nations, steps in as interim leader for a maximum of 90 days so that elections can be organized.
The current upper house president is Abdelkader Bensalah, a Bouteflika ally — and it’s unclear whether protesters will abandon their fight for an overhaul of the entire power structure.
An official in the president’s office told The Associated Press that Bouteflika had resigned, and the official APS news agency said in a full-page headline that Bouteflika had notified the Constitutional Council of his decision.
The move came a day after Bouteflika’s office said he would leave by April 28, the official end of his fourth mandate — but only after “important” changes were made to ensure institutional continuity. That gave rise to fears that his entourage would do all to preserve the interests of those who profited from his time in office.
There was no word about what would happen to the presidential entourage, including younger brother Said Bouteflika, a top counselor blamed by protesters for widespread corruption in the North African country with a high unemployment rate and drastic gap between the rich and poor.
Earlier Tuesday, military chief of staff Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah convened a meeting of the top military hierarchy. That made clear that the army chief’s call for Bouteflika to desist had the backing of the military — among the most important on the African continent.
Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke.
His resignation caps six weeks of peaceful marches by protesters who wanted not just Bouteflika but the entire system to make an exit.
