The Algerian army chief of staff, General Ahmed Kayed Saleh, called for „dialogue with state institutions“ to be a single option to get out of the crisis, warning against falling into the „violence“, while demonstrations continued to reject the current course and demand the departure of all elements of the regime.
„I am convinced that the adoption of a constructive dialogue with state institutions is the only way out of the crisis,“ Qaid Saleh said in a new statement. „It is the most effective way to make constructive proposals, bring together views and reach consensus on solutions. Available „.
„We have to work to create the necessary conditions for holding presidential elections as the best way out of the crisis,“ Saleh said Tuesday, adding that the army „does not deviate from the constitution, whatever the circumstances.“
Since the beginning of the protest movement on 22 February, demonstrators – especially during mass protests every Friday – demand the departure of the ruling regime, headed by Transitional President Abdelkader Ben Saleh and Prime Minister Noureddine Badawi, both close to President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika, who resigned on April 2.
The protesters categorically refuse to be careful to organize elections in which Bouteflika’s succesor will choose the regime that ruled the country for 20 years because, in their view, it is unable to guarantee its integrity and freedom.
For his part, called on the transitional President Abdul Qader bin Saleh to engage all the living forces in the country, in search of compromise solutions to respond to the will of the people and his aspirations crucial to bring about a radical change in the system of government, as stated in the message on the occasion of the International Day of Action.
Welcome and denouncing
The Peace Society, the largest opposition party in Algeria, welcomed the army’s call for dialogue between political figures, parties and state institutions to „overcome difficulties and reach broad national consensus.“
„Welcoming the comprehensive and broad dialogue, which is accompanied and sponsored by credible institutions, it calls on the occasion to quickly respond to the collective demands of the Algerian people,“ the movement said.
„The Algerian people have no faith in the promises to preserve the popular revolution and to protect it from any pressure or repression,“ he said in a statement, referring to the intervention of the chief of staff in the country’s political affairs, because he did not see it on the ground.
