ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algeria’s former interim president Abdelkader Bensalah, who ruled the country during an unprecedented political crisis in 2019, died on Wednesday at the age of 80, the presidency said.
Bensalah was named interim president after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April 2019 after mass protests to reject his plan to seek a fifth term and to call for political and economic reform.
Bouteflika, who ruled the North African country for two decades, died on Friday at the age of 84.
The protests continued after Bouteflika resigned despite the detention of several senior officials for involvement in corruption cases during the Bouteflika era.
Bensalah, who was also chairman of the upper house of parliament for several years, remained in office until the current president Abdelmadjid Tebboune was elected in December 2019.
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(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Alison Williams)
Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters.
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