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Algeria Inaugurates New President Rejected by Protesters

Associated Press

   ALGIERS - Algeria's new president pledged Thursday to introduce
   presidential term limits and bring more young people into politics, as
   he tries to win over a pro-democracy movement that boycotted his
   election and forced out his long-serving predecessor.

   The gas-rich North African nation inaugurated Abdelmadjid Tebboune as
   president Thursday in a pomp-filled ceremony.

   Members of Algeria's governing elite hope Tebboune helps the country
   turn the page on 10 months of peaceful but persistent protests that
   have threatened their legitimacy and stalled the economy. Many
   protesters reject Tebboune as part of a discredited elite, and want a
   new political system instead.

   Tebboune, a 74-year-old former prime minister considered close to
   Algeria's powerful army chief, reached out immediately to the Hirak
   protest movement, which helped oust Algeria's president of two decades,
   Abdelaziz Bouteflika, from office in April.

   "The constitution guarantees ... the right to protest," Tebboune said.

   In his first presidential speech, he promised to tackle the corruption
   that the protesters decry, and to curtail his own powers.

   He announced a revision of the constitution to introduce a two-term
   limit for presidents. Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term -- despite
   being hobbled by a stroke -- is what unleashed this year's protests and
   led to his downfall.
   

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