ALGIERS, March 11 (Reuters) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will not run for a fifth term, the presidency said on Monday after weeks of protests calling for the ailing leader to step down.

The presidency also announced the postponement of a presidential election which had been planned for April.

A government reshuffle would take place soon, the presidency said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of people from all social classes have been demonstrating almost daily against Bouteflika's decision to stand in the election, rejecting a stale political system dominated by veterans of an independence war against France that ended in 1962. Bouteflika has ruled for 20 years. (Reporting by Lamine Chkhi; Writing by Michael Georgy)</s>Hundreds of students protested in the Algerian capital on Tuesday, accusing ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of seeking to prolong his two-decade rule despite abandoning his bid for a fifth term.

“The students are resisting the extension of the fourth mandate,” they chanted in a square outside the main post office of Algiers, a day after Bouteflika cancelled next month’s presidential election.

Half a dozen police vans were parked around the Place de la Grande Poste, which has been the epicentre of protests demanding the 82-year-old leader step down.

They were responding to calls on social media for renewed mass protests, after the cancellation of the April presidential polls raised fears of a ploy to extend Bouteflika’s hold on power.

“We will march more determined than ever to end this system, to end this mafia. We want a republican and democratic state,” one message calling for demonstrations said.

“No to manipulation, let’s be vigilant. The battle is not won. Those in power want to stay and proof of this is that the interior minister has become the prime minister,” it said.

On Monday Bouteflika said in a message carried by the official APS news agency: “There will not be a fifth term” and “there will be no presidential election on April 18”.

He said new polls would be held at an unspecified date to be decided by a “national conference” — effectively extending his mandate.

He also named interior minister Noureddine Bedoui as the new prime minister to replace the unpopular Ahmed Ouyahia, APS said.

Bouteflika, who has been rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said he was responding to “a pressing demand that you have been numerous in making to me”.

Demonstrations against his re-election bid had brought tens of thousands onto the streets for the past three Fridays, with smaller demonstrations taking place on other days.

There were also calls online for students in the northeastern city of Annaba to protest Tuesday inside and outside university campuses.

Calls were also put out for demonstrations to be held nationwide on Friday.

The influential El Watan newspaper on Tuesday carried a banner headline suggesting that Bouteflika’s move to drop his bid for a fifth term was merely a “ploy”.

Liberte, another French-language daily, spoke of a “sham” and said that Bouteflika was seeking to deceive the people again.

Former colonial power France cautiously “welcomed” Bouteflika’s decision not to stand for re-election.

French President Emmanuel Macron called however for “a transition in a reasonable timeframe”.</s>Around 10,000 Algerian-origin protesters rallied in Paris on Sunday, police said, in a demonstration against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, calling on him not to seek another term in office in next month's election.

The protesters gathered for the second weekend in a row at the Republique square in central Paris, while there were smaller demonstrations in other cities around France such as Marseille and Bordeaux.

"We need to get rid of the system," 24-year-old protester Ahmed Eddaidj, who was wrapped in an Algerian flag, told AFP in Paris.

The student, who has been in France for four years, added: "I'd like to go back to Algeria, but there's no work. We're looking for a better life."

Rachid Nekkaz - a businessman and political activist opposed to Bouteflika - was among those in Paris on Sunday after he was released by Swiss police.

Nekkaz, who was arrested on Friday at a Geneva hospital where Bouteflika had been receiving treatment, was carried briefly on the shoulders of a group of demonstrators.

France, which ruled Algeria for more than 100 years as a colonial power, is home to the largest population of Algerian-origin people outside of the north African country.

Around 1.7 million people of Algerian origin are estimated to live in France, according to national statistics agency INSEE.

Some members of the diaspora want French President Emmanuel Macron to take a firmer stand in support of the peaceful protests against ailing 82-year-old Bouteflika which began more than a fortnight ago.

But the Paris government is wary about being seen to interfere in its former territory and has been extremely cautious in its statements.

Opposition figure Ali Benflis, a former prime minister of Bouteflika who has called for him to step aside after 20 years in power, urged France to stay out of the crisis.

"France is a major power that we respect as an associate and a partner, but Algeria's problems cannot be resolved from the outside and no-one should interfere," he told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview.

One of Macron's close political allies, Francois Bayrou, called the peaceful demonstrations an "Algerian Spring" on Sunday and said it was "in many ways exemplary and essential."

But "it's not because these movements begin well that they end well," he told French media, adding that Islamist parties could try to benefit from the instability.

This article has been adapted from its original source.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plane landed on Sunday at Boufarik military airport, southwest of the capital Algiers, Ennahar TV said.

Reporting by Lamine Chikhi and Hesham Hajali; Editing by Kevin Liffey</s>ALGIERS: Protesters returned to Algeria's streets on Tuesday (Mar 12) after jubilation over ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's vow not to seek re-election gave way to fears of a plot to prolong his two-decade rule.

In a surprise announcement Monday, the 82-year-old leader said he would not stand for a fifth term and cancelled next month's presidential election.

After initial celebratory rallies, thousands of students held a fresh protest in the capital Tuesday, accusing Bouteflika of "tricks".

"The students are resisting the extension of the fourth mandate," they chanted at the rally in a square outside Algiers' main post office which some teachers also joined.

Half a dozen police vans were parked around the Place de la Grande Poste, which has been the epicentre of protests demanding Bouteflika resign.

"Bouteflika has no right to prolong his mandate without the people's approval," said 22-year-old geology student Riad Labed.

"It's a ploy to win time ... in order to put in place another puppet like the (current) president," said Amel, another student who only gave her first name.

Protesters held up signs saying: "No extra time. This is not a football match."

Students also took to the streets of second city Oran, local journalists said, while in the northeastern city of Annaba they were preparing for their next move.

The president announced on Monday that a "national conference" would set a new date for polls that he would not contest.

"There will not be a fifth term" and "there will be no presidential election on April 18", he said in a message reported by the official APS news agency.

The veteran leader, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said he was responding to "a pressing demand that you have been numerous in making to me".

National television broadcast footage on Monday night of Bouteflika in his trademark three-piece suit receiving several senior officials.

Students have been at the forefront of weeks of massive demonstrations demanding Bouteflika step down, in a country where half the population is under the age of 30.

Messages posted overnight on social media urged students across the country to "end this system, end this mafia" with more protests planned on Friday.

"No to manipulation, let's be vigilant. The battle is not won. Those in power want to stay and proof of this is that the interior minister has become the prime minister," one message said.

Bouteflika has named interior minister Noureddine Bedoui as the new prime minister to replace the unpopular Ahmed Ouyahia.

Several newspapers have also accused Bouteflika of deceiving the people.

"He scraps the presidential election but stays in power: the latest ploy by Bouteflika," the influential El Watan newspaper said on its front page.

The Liberte daily denounced a "sham" while El Khabar newspaper said Bouteflika wanted "to remain president without elections".

Former colonial power France cautiously "welcomed" Bouteflika's announcement but President Emmanuel Macron called for "a transition in a reasonable timeframe".

But his promise on Monday of a "national conference" to carry out reform and set a date for new elections "before the end of 2019" suggested he may stay in office for another year.

"There is no legal basis to delay the elections," said Fatiha Benabou, a professor at Algiers University and expert on constitutional matters.

Bouteflika's pledge, a day after he returned from Switzerland where he spent two weeks at a hospital for medical checks, failed to convince his key rival Ali Benflis.

The former prime minister, who has joined the opposition, said in an online video that the president was "prolonging his fourth mandate", calling it "an act of aggression against the constitution".

Algerians who celebrated late into the night woke up Tuesday unsure of Bouteflika's real intentions.

"At first I jumped with joy when I heard the message on television but later I started getting chills up my spine," retired teacher Latifa Ben wrote on Facebook.

After posting a message of "victory", engineer Akli Ourad called for "vigilance, vigilance" on Facebook, saying Bouteflika's promise was merely "a gimmick" aimed at winning another year in office.

Former culture minister Abdelaziz Rahabi tweeted that Bouteflika was "ridiculing the people".

"His determination to stay in power will push the country towards the unknown and is dangerous for the stability of the State and unity of the people," said Rahabi.</s>ALGIERS, Algeria — The Latest on the political situation and protests in Algeria (all times local):

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced a delay to next month's presidential election and is bowing to unprecedented public protests and promising not to seek a fifth term.

After 20 years in power, Bouteflika announced the dramatic move Monday in a letter to the Algerian people released by his office. He is promising an interim leadership structure to plan new elections, and says he will not seek to run again.

Bouteflika, who is 82, has barely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke. He has faced unprecedented protests in recent weeks demanding that he abandon plans to seek another term.

Algerian workers are holding scattered walkouts and students are gathering for protests as their tense nation waits to see whether ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika offers any concessions in the face of unprecedented protests.

Algerian media and protest leaders expect Monday to be a decisive day for the gas-rich North African country, after Bouteflika returned home Sunday from two weeks in a Swiss hospital.

His absence saw mounting, massive demonstrations demanding that he withdraw his candidacy for a fifth term in next month's election.

Security is high Monday in Algiers, where some businesses are shuttered by strikes and high school and university students are planning protest-related activity.

Algerians have hardly seen Bouteflika since he suffered a stroke in 2013, and anger has mounted at the country's secretive power structure.</s>Hundreds of students protested in the Algerian capital on Tuesday, accusing ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of seeking to prolong his two-decade rule despite abandoning his bid for a fifth term.

"The students are resisting the extension of the fourth mandate," they chanted in a square outside the main post office of Algiers, a day after Bouteflika cancelled next month's presidential election.

Half a dozen police vans were parked around the Place de la Grande Poste, which has been the epicentre of protests demanding the 82-year-old leader step down.

They were responding to calls on social media for renewed mass protests, after the cancellation of the April presidential polls raised fears of a ploy to extend Bouteflika's hold on power.

"We will march more determined than ever to end this system, to end this mafia. We want a republican and democratic state," one message calling for demonstrations said.

"No to manipulation, let's be vigilant. The battle is not won. Those in power want to stay and proof of this is that the interior minister has become the prime minister," it said.

On Monday Bouteflika said in a message carried by the official APS news agency: "There will not be a fifth term" and "there will be no presidential election on April 18".

He said new polls would be held at an unspecified date to be decided by a "national conference" -- effectively extending his mandate.

He also named interior minister Noureddine Bedoui as the new prime minister to replace the unpopular Ahmed Ouyahia, APS said.

Bouteflika, who has been rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said he was responding to "a pressing demand that you have been numerous in making to me".

Demonstrations against his re-election bid had brought tens of thousands onto the streets for the past three Fridays, with smaller demonstrations taking place on other days.

There were also calls online for students in the northeastern city of Annaba to protest Tuesday inside and outside university campuses.

Calls were also put out for demonstrations to be held nationwide on Friday.

The influential El Watan newspaper on Tuesday carried a banner headline suggesting that Bouteflika's move to drop his bid for a fifth term was merely a "ploy".

Liberte, another French-language daily, spoke of a "sham" and said that Bouteflika was seeking to deceive the people again.

Former colonial power France cautiously "welcomed" Bouteflika's decision not to stand for re-election.

French President Emmanuel Macron called however for "a transition in a reasonable timeframe".</s>ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, announced Monday that he is dropping his bid for a fifth term in office, a surprise move following weeks of protests against his candidacy.

“Peacefully, we have overthrown the puppet!” people sang in the streets of the capital, Algiers, following the announcement.

Celebratory honking of car horns rang out in the city center, which was deserted by police after they had deployed in large numbers earlier in the day.

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“There will not be a fifth term,” Bouteflika said in a message carried by the official APS news agency, while suggesting that he would remain in office until his term expires on April 28.

“There will be no presidential election on April 18,” the veteran leader said, adding that he was responding to “a pressing demand that you have many of you have made to me.”

He vowed “to hand over the duties and prerogatives of the president of the republic to the successor freely chosen by the Algerian people.”

The announcement was followed by the naming of interior minister Noureddine Bedoui as prime minister in place of Ahmed Ouyahia, according to APS.

Bouteflika, whose rare public appearances since he suffered a stroke in 2013 have been in a wheelchair, returned to Algeria on Sunday after spending two weeks at a hospital in Switzerland.

Demonstrations against his bid for another term brought tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets for each of the last three Fridays, with smaller demonstrations taking place on other days.

“France expresses its hope that a new dynamic that can answer the deep aspirations of the Algerian people will rapidly take hold,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.

Lawyers across Algeria joined strike action on Monday against Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office, demanding the Constitutional Council reject his candidacy on grounds of “incapacity” to carry out the role.

Bouteflika’s return from Geneva came as protest strikes Sunday shut down the capital’s public transport system and many schools across the vast country.

The 82-year-old leader had left Algeria on February 24 for what the presidency described as “routine medical checks.”

Since the outbreak of protests last month, Algeria’s army chief, Ahmed Gaid Salah, has pledged to guarantee national security and criticized those he said want to return to the “painful years” of the civil war of the 1990s.

Bouteflika became president in 1999 and he has clung to power despite his ill health.

Dubbed Boutef by Algerians, he had helped foster peace after the decade-long civil war, but he also faced criticism for alleged authoritarianism.

When the Arab Spring uprisings erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, Bouteflika’s regime smothered dissent and played on fears of a repeat of Algeria’s civil war.

His government lifted a 19-year state of emergency, granted pay rises, and announced piecemeal political reforms.

But those reforms, announced in “a climate of fear,” were shelved once the situation was brought under control, a European diplomat said.

Little by little, Bouteflika returned the regime to its authoritarian ways.

He was elected for a fourth term in April 2014 with 81.5 percent of the vote, despite not campaigning.

Bouteflika has a history of medical problems and has often flown to France or Switzerland for treatment.</s>More than 1,000 judges have refused to oversee Algeria's April 18 election if President Abdelaziz Bouteflika takes part in it.

Coming more than two weeks after anti-Bouteflika protests broke out across the North African country, the judges said in a statement published on Sunday that they were forming a new association "to restore the gift of justice".

"We announce our intention to abstain from ... supervising the election process against the will of the people, which is the only source of power," the statement read.

The 82-year-old Bouteflika, who returned to Algeria on Sunday after undergoing medical treatment in Switzerland, faces the toughest fight of his 20-year rule.

The ailing head of state has rarely been seen in public since a stroke in 2013.

Bouteflika has offered to limit his term after the election and has vowed to change the "system" that runs the country. The promises, however, have failed to quell public anger, galvanising discontent among different sectors, particularly students and other young people.

Algerians from all social classes have rejected his plan to secure a fifth term in next month's elections, a move protesters feel would perpetuate a stale political system dominated by veterans of an independence war against France that ended in 1962.

"Bouteflika is back, we delivered a message, we need a response, and we need a response now,” Mouloud Mohamed, a 29-year-old pharmacist, told Reuters news agency.

The secretive military-based establishment known to Algerians as "le pouvoir" [the powers-that-be] appears to have stood aside while the demonstrations have taken place.

In Algiers, tens of unionists staged a protest rally outside the headquarters of the main union, UGTA, calling on its leader Abdelmadjid Sidi Said, a Bouteflika ally, to resign.

Young Algerians are desperate for jobs and angry about unemployment and corruption and complain that their leaders still dwell on the victory over France instead of improving living standards for the future.

"This time, it's quite different. What we see now is a momentum that is building up across Algeria," Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, who has covered the region extensively, said of the ongoing demonstrations.

"Many people believe if this momentum continues for the next two weeks, it could be a game changer," Ahelbarra added.

Looking ahead, Ahelbarra said a key date for the country was going to be March 13, when Algeria's constitutional committee is set to determine the legitimacy of the presented candidacies for next month's elections.</s>Protesters returned to Algeria’s streets Tuesday after jubilation over ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s vow not to seek re-election gave way to fears of a plot to prolong his two-decade rule.

In a surprise announcement Monday, the 82-year-old leader said he would not stand for a fifth term and cancelled next month’s presidential election.

After initial celebratory rallies, hundred of students joined a fresh protest in the capital Tuesday, accusing Bouteflika of “tricks”.

“The students are resisting the extension of the fourth mandate,” they chanted in a square outside Algiers’ main post office.

Half a dozen police vans were parked around the Place de la Grande Poste, which has been the epicentre of protests demanding Bouteflika resign.

“Bouteflika has no right to prolong his mandate without the people’s approval,” said 22-year-old geology student Riad Labed.

Students also took to the streets of second city Oran, local journalists said, while in the northeastern city of Annaba they were preparing for their next move.

The president announced on Monday that a “national conference” would set a new date for polls that he would not contest.

“There will not be a fifth term” and “there will be no presidential election on April 18”, he said in a message reported by the official APS news agency.

The veteran leader, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said he was responding to “a pressing demand that you have been numerous in making to me”.

National television broadcast footage on Monday night of Bouteflika in his trademark three-piece suit receiving several senior officials.

Students have been at the forefront of weeks of massive demonstrations demanding Bouteflika step down, in a country where half the population is under the age of 30.

Messages posted overnight on social media urged students across the country to “end this system, end this mafia” with more protests planned on Friday.

“No to manipulation, let’s be vigilant. The battle is not won. Those in power want to stay and proof of this is that the interior minister has become the prime minister,” one message said.

Bouteflika has named interior minister Noureddine Bedoui as the new prime minister to replace the unpopular Ahmed Ouyahia.

“He scraps the presidential election but stays in power: the latest ploy by Bouteflika,” the influential El Watan newspaper said on its front page.

Former colonial power France cautiously “welcomed” Bouteflika’s announcement but President Emmanuel Macron called for “a transition in a reasonable timeframe”.

But his promise on Monday of a “national conference” to carry out reform and set a date for new elections “before the end of 2019” suggested he may stay in office for another year.

“There is no legal basis to delay the elections,” said Fatiha Benabou, a professor at Algiers University and expert on constitutional matters.

Bouteflika’s pledge, a day after he returned from Switzerland where he spent two weeks at a hospital for medical checks, failed to convince his key rival Ali Benflis.

The former prime minister, who has joined the opposition, said in an online video that the president was “prolonging his fourth mandate”, calling it “an act of aggression against the constitution”.

Algerians who celebrated late into the night woke up Tuesday unsure of Bouteflika’s real intentions.

“At first I jumped with joy when I heard the message on television but later I started getting chills up my spine,” retired teacher Latifa Ben wrote on Facebook.

After posting a message of “victory”, engineer Akli Ourad called for “vigilance, vigilance” on Facebook, saying Bouteflika’s promise was merely “a gimmick” aimed at winning another year in office.

Former culture minister Abdelaziz Rahabi tweeted that Bouteflika was “ridiculing the people”.

“His determination to stay in power will push the country towards the unknown and is dangerous for the stability of the State and unity of the people,” said Rahabi.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika says he will postpone the country's elections next month, and will not seek a fifth term in office.