Former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ousted from power in 2019 after massive protests against his desire to run for a new term, died on Friday at the age of 84.
“Death of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika,” said a banner unfolding on national television, citing a press release from the Presidency of the Republic.
Official televisions were content to announce the death of the former head of state, without however interrupting their programs to devote special programs to him.
20 years in power
Apart from the official announcement, Bouteflika’s death did not give rise to any immediate comment from the authorities, but Internet users have commented extensively on the disappearance of the one who remained in power from 1999 to 2019, a record for longevity. in Algeria.
Omnipresent in Algerian political life for decades, but become almost invisible since a stroke in 2013, Bouteflika had given no sign of life since the popular protest movement of the “Hirak” and the army had forced him to resign.
Since his spectacular fall in April 2019 under pressure from the army and the street, the one Algerians colloquially called “Boutef” had remained holed up in solitude in his nursing home in Zeralda, west of Algiers, then that his relatives were being prosecuted on charges of corruption.
An inevitable fall
His fall had become inevitable after weeks of massive demonstrations against his desire to run for a fifth five-year term, after 20 years in power, despite his illness. Bouteflika, born March 2, 1937, died at “10:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. GMT) at his place of residence,” according to the private channel El Hayet TV.
That day he had last appeared on television to announce that he was throwing in the towel. The Hirak however continued despite the ouster of Bouteflika and his clan, then the election in 2019 of his successor Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The movement calls for the dismantling of the system of governance in place since independence in 1962, but the authorities say that the main demands of the protesters have been met.
Bouteflika’s fourth term took place against a backdrop of plummeting oil prices for an economy very dependent on hydrocarbons. The coffers were empty and it was no longer possible to buy social peace, as in 2011 when the Arab Spring had swept the region.
The date of his burial has not been announced at this point.