Algeria’s president Bouteflika steps down after 20 years of rule

Algeria’s president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has bowed to weeks of mass protests against his rule and resigned, abruptly putting an end to two decades in power.

The 82-year-old leader announced his resignation on Tuesday night via a brief message from the presidency saying he had “notified the president of the constitutional council of his decision to end his mandate”.

Jubilant, flag-waving Algerians celebrated on the streets of the capital, Algiers.

Earlier in the day, army chief of staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah demanded the veteran ruler, who has been long in poor health, be declared immediately unfit for office.

Bouteflika’s 20-year reign had become a symbol of aging regimes across the Middle East and North Africa and its sudden end marked a new victory for popular protest in the region.

But what happens next is unclear in a country that has rarely seen political changes at the top since gaining independence from France in 1962.

The departing president suffered a stroke in 2013 and has rarely been seen in public since. His brother Saïd was widely believed to have been running the country from behind the scenes, aided by a cabal of sympathizers known as Le Pouvoir.

Demonstrators peacefully took to the streets every Friday since 22 February, their numbers sometimes in the hundreds of thousands. In just under six weeks, they forced Bouteflika to cancel his bid for a fifth term in office and relinquish power.

Other powerful figures, including the former prime minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, had also joined in calls for Bouteflika to go.

Bouteflika’s resignation triggered a caretaker presidency by the chairman of the upper house of parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, for 90 days until elections are held.

But as the growing protests emboldened demonstrators, they began to demand more than just the overthrow of Bouteflika.