By RFIPalled on 03-18-2019 Modified on 3-18-2019 at 23:51

In Algeria, the mobilization continues. In a letter to the nation issued Monday, March 18 in the evening, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika did not respond to the challenge. On the contrary, he confirmed that he would remain in office until the end of the transition.

In this letter published on the eve of Victory Day, on 19 March 1962, the date of the signing of the Evian Accords and the beginning of Algeria's independence process, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika writes that the National Conference will be responsible for " renewing the political, economic and social systems " of the country.

He is committed to a smooth transition by the end of his presidential course. While his fourth term ends in a month and a half, the president confirms that he will remain in power during the transition.

The head of state does not respond to the demands of protesters, who marched across the country Friday , demanding his departure as well as that of the political system.

In the morning, the Chief of Staff of the army had called him to find solutions, " as soon as possible " to get out of the crisis. Ahmed Gaid Salah, a close friend of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has also saluted the patriotism and civility of Algerians who have been demonstrating calm for a month.

A message very different from that of the first week of protests in which he denounced dubious calls that pushed the Algerians to the unknown.

Civil society roadmap

For a large part of civil society, the president's promise to submit a new constitution to a referendum following the work of the National Conference is not enough. Twenty organizations civil society has published a roadmap to exit the crisis. Five proposals, including the establishment of a high-level transition committee, but also the election of a constituent assembly to draft the new Constitution.

There is a requirement of the street, which is the departure of President Bouteflika at the end of his term. Beyond that, of course, we must now think about the transition. After the departure of the president, we thought of another moral authority, of arbitration, made up of national personalities, who can now steer this transition. And there must also be a transitional government.

Said Salhi

18-03-2019 - By Léa-Lisa Westerhoff

On Monday, artists gathered in the capital to try to organize, a rally of national television journalists was held to denounce censorship, and the actors of vocational training organized demonstrations in several cities of the country.

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