Huge crowds gathered in several cities and Ennahar TV reported workers began a strike that paralyzed operations at the Mediterranean port at Bajaia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bouteflika, 82, bowed to weeks of mass demonstrations against his 20-year rule on Monday and promised a transition to a new leadership. But he postponed elections scheduled for April, meaning he will likely remain in power for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi and protest groups will join a conference planning Algeria\u2019s future, government and political sources said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and U.N. special envoy, is expected to chair the conference that will oversee the transition, draft a new constitution and set the date for elections, a government source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crowds who came back onto the streets on Tuesday demanded quicker action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe whole system must disappear immediately. Our battle will continue,\u201d 25-year-old student Noureddine Habi said in central Algiers as others chanted: \u201cWe want this system to go\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Algerians have grown tired of the ailing leader and other veterans of the 1954-1962 war of independence against France who have dominated a country with high unemployment, poor services and rampant corruption despite its oil and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than a quarter of Algerians under 30 are unemployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Algeria\u2019s new deputy prime minister said Boutiflika\u2019s decision was the most important turning point in since independence from France in 1962. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to the Monte Carlo Doualiya radio station, Ramtan Lamamra said: \u201cPresident Bouteflika has made a historic decision; I hope the Algerian people will be comforted by it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is the most important development since Algeria secured its independence in 1962,\u201d Lamamra said of Bouteflika\u2019s decision.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lamamra, who also now holds the post of foreign minister, went on to assert: \u201cThe elections will be free; they will be overseen by an independent committee, members of which will be appointed later.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added: \u201cAs soon as the new government is ready, we will open dialogue with Algerian youth — and other political forces — at a national conference, where we can decide on a date for the election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Lamamra, delegates at the planned national conference \u201cwill then help draft a new constitution for a second republic and a new political system\u201d.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Algerian opposition parties, he stressed, would also have a voice at the conference \u201csince the country needs feedback from everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, Algeria\u2019s ruling National Liberation Front nominated the 82-year-old Bouteflika — who has ruled Algeria since 1999 — to run for a fifth term in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move sparked three weeks of protests in several parts of the country, including capital Algiers, against Bouteflika\u2019s hope of securing a fifth presidential term.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opposition figures had consistently urged the aging president, who in 2013 underwent treatment for a blood clot in the brain, to refrain from contesting the April poll. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ALGIERS, March 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands protested across Algeria on Tuesday, demanding immediate political changes a day after ailing President Abelaziz Bouteflika abandoned his bid for a fifth term in power but stopped short of stepping down. Huge crowds gathered in several cities and Ennahar TV reported workers began a strike that paralyzed operations at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13844"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}