Abdelaziz Bouteflika was a veteran of Algeria’s glorious war of independence who brought stability to the country after years of turmoil. Twenty years later, he has left as a diminished figure whose authority had crumbled.
The 82-year-old tendered his resignation late on Tuesday under pressure from the military, capping a series of concessions his regime has made to thousands of protesters who have massed repeatedly over the past six weeks to denounce him.
Though he was incapacitated by a stroke that paralysed him and impaired his speech in 2013, Mr Bouteflika remained in office in the six years that followed. Speculation about who was really in control had mounted among Algerians while discontent grew, finally exploding this year when he sought a fifth term in office.
Dalia Ghanem Yazbeck, resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said Mr Bouteflika had overstayed his welcome, tarnishing his image and erasing whatever respect Algerians had for him.
“If he had stepped down a few weeks ago, I would have told you people will remember him as an architect of peace who ended the civil war,” she said. “But today I think he has sullied his image [with] his contempt for the people by seeking to stay on despite being debilitated by a stroke, stuck in a wheelchair and unable to speak.”
His quest to run in April elections, which were subsequently postponed, was widely seen as an attempt by powerful members of his inner circle to maintain control and protect their interests.
Analysts speculated that Algeria’s autocratic regime — a coalition of establishment factions — had decided it would be easier to back an infirm figurehead than upset the balance of power by choosing a successor.
But that proved to be a mistake. As the protests gained momentum, Mr Bouteflika’s allies began to abandon him and the army chief of staff — once part of his inner circle — demanded the launch of proceedings to declare him unfit for office. It was the final nail in the coffin of his presidency.
Born in 1937, he joined the war of independence against France in 1956. In 1963, at the age of 26, he was appointed foreign minister not long after independent Algeria was born. He served in that role until 1978, spanning a period when Algeria was seen as a beacon for Third World independence movements and he enjoyed a high profile at international events.
In 1999 he was installed as president by Algeria’s “pouvoir”, the influential decision makers at the top of the military and intelligence establishments who had shaped politics since independence.
At the time Algeria was emerging from a brutal conflict between radical Islamists and the army. His Civil Concord policy helped end the violence — which killed more than 100,000 people — by convincing radical groups to put down their arms after an amnesty in 2000.
Aided by soaring oil and gas prices, he managed to buy peace by spending billions on cheap housing, infrastructure, and grants and subsidies for Algerian citizens — moves that helped ensure the Arab uprisings of 2011 bypassed his country.
Mr Bouteflika spent much of his rule wrangling over power with senior officers behind the scenes. He once famously said he did not want to be the “decoration on the cake”, meaning he wanted to exercise his prerogatives as president and not just function as a façade for the factions that competed for control of the power structure. Over the years, he was able to expand his influence at the expense of those who had sought to block him.
Algeria protests revive memories of final days of Hosni Mubarak.
Despite his poor health, he — or his allies — managed in 2015 to sideline one of his most powerful opponents, General Mohamed “Toufik” Mediène, the long-serving and much-feared head of the military intelligence services. The sacking of Mr Mediène and the establishment of presidential control over his agency was seen as a major victory for Mr Bouteflika.
But even if the president expanded his authority over the years, “it remains unclear to what extent he really gained control over the deep state”, said Isabelle Werenfels, Algeria specialist at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
And as oil prices fell in recent years government finances began to be squeezed and Algeria appeared to be drifting, its ailing president nearly invisible. Algerians began to wonder whether power had moved into the hands of Mr Bouteflika’s brother Said, who was his gatekeeper and a link to a new generation of business leaders.
Mr Bouteflika was no democrat and did not hide his disdain for elected bodies. During his tenure parliament remained a rubber stamp and the country’s multi-party system little more than window dressing. Major decisions were being taken by the president and a shadowy elite that included the military but also considered the interests of a lobby of businessmen who grew rich as a result of billions poured into infrastructure projects.
The former president steps down as Algeria’s finances continue to feel the strain from low oil prices that have constrained the government’s ability to shore up the crucial social safety net. There is a new generation of Algerians who demand jobs, services and accountable government and are no longer convinced by the regime’s trade-off of stability against autocratic rule.
The country and its military — still a pillar of the establishment — now face the difficult challenge of addressing the many problems left to fester on Mr Bouteflika’s watch.
