FLN turns on Bouteflika as new protests mount: he is 'history'
Thousands of protesters gathered in the Algerian capital on
Friday demanding that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika step down, keeping up
pressure after the ruling FLN party showed more signs of turning its back on
him, Reuters reported.
Bouteflika on Monday reversed a decision to stand for
another term after mass protests against his rule, but stopped short of
relinquishing office and says he will stay on until a new constitution is
adopted.
He has been losing allies in recent days since returning
from medical treatment in Switzerland.
A senior FLN figure said in an interview on Thursday night
the long-ruling president was “history now”.
The remarks by Hocine Kheldoun to Ennahar television were
another setback Bouteflika, who hoped to pacify Algerians by promising to take
steps to change a political landscape that has been dominated by a ruling elite
for decades.
Kheldoun, a former ruling party spokesman, became one of the
most senior FLN officials to break with Bouteflika publicly, saying the party
had to look forward and support the aims of demonstrators protesting against
Bouteflika.
“Those who think we are tired are wrong. Our protests will
not stop,” said doctor Madjid Benzida, 37, amid a heavy police presence across
the capital.
Some parents had brought children: “I want a better future,”
said Mohamed Kemime, 10, draped in a national flag.
Tens of thousands of Algerians have staged peaceful protests
for weeks, seeking a new era with younger leaders who would offer greater
social freedoms and prosperity.
“Bouteflika and his men must go as soon as possible,” said
student Yazid Ammari, 23.
One of Algeria’s most influential clerics appealed for
patience.
“Let’s be optimistic, Algeria needs to overcome its crisis,”
said Mohamed Abdelkader Haider from an Algiers mosque.
Bouteflika, 82, has been in office for 20 years but has
rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. Protesters say he
is no longer in a fit state to rule.
New Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui said on Thursday he
would form a temporary government of technocrats and others to work toward
political change, and he urged the opposition to join in a dialogue.
“GAME OVER”
A former minister who is familiar with Bouteflika’s inner
circle told Reuters that the president could not survive given the pressure
building against him.
“Game over. Bouteflika has no choice but to quit now,” the
former minister said on condition of anonymity.
Algeria is a major oil and gas producer, but so far exports
have not suffered from the unrest. Its biggest oil field Hassi Messaoud and its
Hassi Rmel gas field have not been affected, a source from state oil giant
Sonatrach told Reuters.
Many Algerians say that the ailing president and other
veterans of the 1954-1962 war of independence against France should hand over
power to young technocrats who can focus on unemployment, poor services and
stamping out corruption.
The military, which has traditionally played a
behind-the-scenes power broker role, has distanced itself from Bouteflika and
stayed in its barracks throughout the crisis. It is expected to retain
influence under all scenarios.
Algeria was relatively untouched when the 2011 Arab Spring
uprisings swept away veteran autocrats in the Arab world. Bouteflika and his
allies, effective manipulators of the opposition, managed to avoid major unrest
by spending oil money on the population, handing out low interest loans and
housing.
Bouteflika helped to defeat a civil war against Islamist
insurgents in which tens of thousands of people were killed in the 1990s, and
many Algerians long accepted heavy-handed rule as the price of stability.
But the public has lost patience with deteriorating economic
conditions and the FLN’s failure to make the transition to a new generation
despite the president’s failing health.