Change is on the horizon in Algeria. The nation celebrated in the streets on Tuesday after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was in power for 20 years, abruptly resigned following weeks of mass protests in the capital city of Algiers.
The 82-year-old Bouteflika had not been seen often in public following a stroke in 2013, but had retained the office of the presidency. But he finally relinquished the position after the army's chief of staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah, who holds great sway in Algeria, demanded Bouteflika officially step down. The resignation is not itself surprising — Bouteflika agreed to leave office before the end of his term on April 28 — but Salah reportedly decided that those terms were issued by "unconstitutional and unauthorized parties," per Reuters.
"There is no time to waste," Salah said. "We decided clearly ... to stand with the people so all their demands get fulfilled."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Those demands came largely from young protesters who were tired of Bouteflika's hold on the government and wanted change. However, some of the protesters called for a complete overhaul of the political system, in which the military plays a significant role. The chair of the upper house of parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, will reportedly take over as a caretaker president. But protesters are not satisfied with that outcome, believing it perpetuates the corruption of the current system.
"What is important to us is that we do not accept the new caretaker government," Mustapha Bouchachi, a protest leader and lawyer, told Reuters. "Peaceful protests will continue."
-
Icarus programme – the ‘internet of animals’The Explainer Researchers aim to monitor 100,000 animals worldwide with GPS trackers, using data to understand climate change and help predict disasters and pandemics
-
Experience Tanzania’s untamed wilderness from Lemala’s luxury lodgesThe Week Recommends The vast protected landscapes are transformed into a verdant paradise during ‘emerald season’
-
Sudoku hard: October 9, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-offSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to ChicagoSpeed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
