State TV later showed a frail-looking Bouteflika, dressed in a traditional winter robe, handing his resignation letter to the head of a constitutional council. "What is important to us is that we do not accept the (caretaker) government," Mustapha Bouchachi, a lawyer and protest leader, told Reuters before Bouteflika quit. Then chief of staff Salah proposed last week to invoke a constitutional clause to remove Bouteflika on health grounds. A veteran of Algeria's war for independence and the only leader many Algerians have known, Bouteflika was first elected president in 1999 and established himself by ending the civil war. Hundreds took to the streets in the city centre, where the Feb 22 mass protests first broke out, waving Algerian flags.

Source: bd News24 April 03, 2019 00:56 UTC