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| Huge protests have been held across Algeria demanding ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika leave power AFP |
Algiers (AFP) - Algerian state prosecutors on Monday said they had banned corruption suspects from leaving the country after launching probes into graft and illegal money transfers abroad targeting unnamed individuals.
The moves
come amid nationwide protests against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and follow
the arrest of one of the incumbent's key backers, business tycoon Ali Haddad.
Haddad, who
Forbes magazine describes as one of Algeria's wealthiest entrepreneurs, was
detained overnight Saturday to Sunday at a border post with neighbouring
Tunisia, a security source said, without giving a reason for the arrest.
On Sunday,
the Algerian authorities also banned all private aircraft from taking off and
landing until the end of the month.
The North
African state has been rocked by weeks of mammoth protests sparked by
Bouteflika's decision in February to seek a fifth term in office.
The veteran
leader, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, said
last month he would pull out of the race but postponed elections which were due
in April.
The
concession has done little to halt public ire and hundreds of thousands of
people took to the streets of the capital Algiers on Friday demanding the
president and his entourage go.
Faced with
the persistent anger, a succession of veteran Bouteflika loyalists have sought
to distance themselves from the president in recent days.
On Tuesday,
armed forces chief of staff Ahmed Gaid Salah called for him to step down or be
declared medically unfit.
#UPDATE Algeria's ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika submitted his resignation with immediate effect, ceding power in the face of massive street protest after two decades at the helm https://t.co/BdRyTIy9Yu— AFP news agency (@AFP) 2 april 2019
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