Jubilation greets Bouteflika’s resignation in Algeria

Algerians are in celebrating mood following the resignation of presidential Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The 82-year-old’s bid to seek a fifth term in February had sparked mass protests.

Bouteflika’s supporters had sought to stop dissent by telling Algerians not to return to the days when some 200,000 people were killed in civil war.

The ailing president announced he was standing down in a sentence statement carried by the state news agency, followed by a letter which has been his primary means of communication since suffering a stroke in 2013 and disappearing from public view.