National Coordination for Change, a new Algerian group headed by political leaders, opposition figures, and activists has urged President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down on April 28 when his term ends.
In a statement titled: “Platform of Change’’, the group also urged the army not to interfere in the country’s politics.
The group’s push for the government to resign is coming after more than three weeks of mass demonstrations against Bouteflika’s 20-year rule.
“There is an urgent need to make radical changes of the system in place with new personnel,” the group said.
Algerian authorities have always been able to manipulate a weak opposition.
But new influential opponents have emerged from growing protests that peaked on Friday, with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Algiers.
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Prominent members of the new group include lawyer and human rights activist, Mustapha Bouchachi; opposition leader, Karim Tabou and former treasury minister, Ali Benouari, and two well-known Islamists, Mourad Dhina and Kamel Guemaz.
The veteran Algerian leader on Monday again defied mass protests calling for his immediate resignation, insisting on a plan to elect a successor only after a national conference and new constitution is approved.
Bouteflika, 82, last week bowed to demonstrators, who say he is unfit to run Algeria by announcing he had reversed a decision to stand for another term.
But he stopped short of stepping down and postponed elections due in April, in effect extending his current term until a new constitution can be prepared.
In a letter reported by Ennahar television, Bouteflika repeated an earlier plan for a national conference to reform the political system, which would be held shortly.
The conference will take “decisive decisions”, state television quoted him as saying.
A new constitution will then pave the way for a new president, the private Ennahar station added.
The scenario broadly reflects a timetable for change that Bouteflika mapped out on March 11.
The ailing leader has ruled for two decades, but has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke five years ago.
Demonstrators say Bouteflika is no state of health to run the country, and they want to see a new generation of leadership tackle deep-seated economic problems and corruption.
The Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ahmed Salah, said that the army should take responsibility for finding a quick solution to its political crisis, in the most overt signal of potential military intervention since demonstrations erupted three weeks ago.
“The army will remain a fortified fortress for the country.
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“We should be responsible for finding solutions as soon as possible.
“There is no problem without solution,” Salah said on state TV.
In the early 1990s, generals canceled elections, which an Islamist party was set to win, triggering almost a decade of civil war that killed some 200,000 people.
Bouteflika’s concessions last week have brought no halt to the demonstrations, which are expected to continue on Tuesday, Algeria’s Independence Day holiday.
On Monday, doctors called for mass protests during the celebrations.
Since returning from medical treatment in Switzerland last week, Bouteflika has been losing allies, including senior members of the ruling National Liberation Front party, known by its French acronym FLN.
The veteran leader named a new prime minister last week, but on Monday leaders of 13 independent Algerian labour unions refused to support his efforts to form a cabinet. (NAN)
