Embattled Algerian president says he will step down amid protests

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will step down before his fourth term ends on April 28, according to a statement issued by the ailing and embattled leader's office Monday. 

In a short statement, the president's office said Bouteflika would take "important steps to ensure the continuity of the functioning of state institutions" during a transition period following his departure from the post he's held since 1999.

Millions of Algerians have been holding weekly protests nationwide to demand that Bouteflika leave office along with his cadre of loyalists. The 82-year-old president has rarely been in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013.

It's unclear if Monday's announcement will satisfy anti-government protesters, who have said they don't just want Bouteflika out, but Algeria's entire power structure overhauled.

The Algerian constitution calls for the head of the upper house of parliament to act as interim leader for a maximum of 90 days while an election is organized.

Government to stay in place for transition

Algerian national television reported Sunday night that Bouteflika and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui had named a new government after weeks of mass protests and political tensions in the gas-rich North African country. The new government must stay in place during the transition period.

His declaration that he was running for a fifth term in a presidential election originally scheduled for April 18 initially fuelled the protests. He withdrew and postponed the election in response to growing demonstrations.

The protests have been driven mostly by young Algerians, who make up a growing part of the population.

Demonstrators say they think Bouteflika and his generation are out of touch with the contemporary problems of the country's people.

Many Algerian young people struggle to find jobs, and desperation has driven some to attempt to migrate to Europe on rickety boats. 

Bouteflika has been known as a wily political survivor ever since he fought during the 1950s and 1960s for Algeria's independence from France.

Dogged by corruption scandals

He became foreign minister at the age of 25, and stood up to the likes of Henry Kissinger at the height of the Cold War, when Algeria was tethered to the former Soviet Union.

Bouteflika famously negotiated with the Venezuelan extremist known as Carlos the Jackal to free oil ministers who were taken hostage in a 1975 attack on OPEC headquarters in Vienna and flown to Algiers. 

Most crucially, he helped reconcile Algeria's citizens after a decade of civil war between radical Muslim militants and Algerian security forces left some 200,000 people dead in the 1990s and nearly tore Algeria apart. 

During his 20 years in office, age and illness took its toll on the once-charismatic figure. Corruption scandals over infrastructure and hydrocarbon projects have also dogged him for years and tarnished many of his closest associates.

Algeria is Africa's biggest country by land mass and a major natural gas producer, but its energy riches have not trickled down to reach the pockets of its people. 

Algeria is also a key partner to the United States and Europe in fighting Islamist extremism. The recent political crisis has caused concern among Western allies.