so constitutional council is holding a special meeting right now after the army chief called for the presidency to be vacated on health grounds this is after weeks of protests calling for the ailing president. to step down after twenty years in power matheson has our report just. ahead of algeria's army announcing what could be a significant moment in the country's history requesting the removal of president abdelaziz bouteflika from office but that's a. in this regard we need to find a solution to sort out this crisis and to respond to the demands of all jury and within the constitution and within the sovereignty of the country in order to achieve that consensus and to achieve something that is accepted by all parties bootlicker has been in power for twenty years has been credited with revitalizing algeria's economy and ending fighting with armed groups in the one nine hundred ninety s. which killed tens of thousands but he's now eighty two and his health has been poor especially since suffering a stroke six years ago his critics say he's become little more than a front man for mili

a constitutional change but clearly the constitutional council is realize we need to move i mean what i what i just said is that deep. constitutional institutions like the parliament or the constitutional council will meet i was expected to be to me to morrow but. but they are. to trickle out to can one so basically gave over for beautifully cause they would. but the world as far as i can see it begins off what is going to happen how are they going to proceed and. how they're going to form a government and what promises are going to make to the people in order to appease the demonstrations use upon dance a pleasure having you with us thank you for your time thank you for some thoughts now from a guest for spoke to earlier who is in syria that is a research fellow for the school for advanced studies in social sciences she told us the army does have a history of intervening to tackle public anger against civilian rule we can see there are gay flat has a big factor of democracy in. iraq so we should not understand this no one has a way to almost certain people's demands on the demands of

the constitutional council. the president's position is very can so at the end of the the me play did. the declaration by the leave to the constitution several times and they used a specific. of this constitution and called upon the constitution institutions to play the. they met no take the decision will go to the parliament it will meet and. the membership of the parliament will agree to it and you think they will definitely there were because of the day the most important institution in the country has spoken. i believe that the two institutions like the constitutional council should have acted or done the business some six years ago but better late than that i mean it just same kind of ironic is the word but the fact that they're using an article about president bush to fake his health when it is because of his health that we haven't seen him in in years and he's in a wheelchair i mean this is not this is nothing new yes that's basically what i was trying to say nothing new to. do the best kept secret is tha

of constitutional council with take over the power. for the next one that. he would prepare. elections and that scenario is fitting for the regime because they can win time and that i want counted as another time when you mention but a flake is in geneva getting medical care he's eighty two years old i mean we've we've seen his wheelchair bound. is he even capable of doing another term. of course not but was not even able to be sworn in before five years as a president so according to the constitution of a jury he is not and that it's meant president because he didn't make his rule and so well the constitution respected in nigeria he won't be in office no. well if he does not run i mean you see it's not likely but let's say he doesn't run again what will happen to this protest movement well for a big part of the protests as i think the rigaud the return to the home because i think this is the most with what they can reach in this situation in nigeria but they would be cool with us those who think they will request saw the change in the

the constitutional council will not rule the constitutional council is an institution. president appointed by the heads of states and its house is simply to figure out if the. head of state is on for too long not and the next step would be preferred this question to the parliament and the last word on this. column and then a vote so the so the parliament has to vote part two thirds. and. concerning the system and all of them. after that it would be moved. well this is a clearly an interesting development on it thank you for joining us. from out jess thank you. we'll take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world a u.v. set to scale down its anti migrants trafficking operation in the mediterranean sea rescue missions from operations for fear will be suspended though as the violence will continue the decision is aimed at resolving a dispute when it's only rome had threatened to hold the entire nation unless rescued migrants were taken to other countries. india says it has shot down a satellite in a missile test prime minister narendra modi made

constitutional council will not rule that the constitutional council is an institution who wants presidents is appointed by the head of state and its task is simply to figure out if the head of state is unfit to rule on nots and the next step would be to refer this question to the parliament and the last word on this has as the parliament and a new vote so this is the parliament has to rule by two thirds. and and. concerning this decision and only then. up innocent people will be removed from office well this is that clearly it interesting the development ok thank you for joining us so fan that nessa from james thank you. now to some of the other stories making news around the world the e.u. is set to scale down its anti migrant trafficking operation in the mediterranean sea rescue missions from operations to feel it will be suspended though as surveillance will continue the decision is aimed at resolving a dispute with italy rome had threatened to hold the entire mission unless rescued migrants were taken to other countries. india says it has shut down a satellite in a missile test five mi

the constitutional council would meet its own accord what the d. . is basically advised. of this. two of the constitution. says to the other. the president no longer enjoys the support of the is a very very significant development and can. survive without the military support. days numbered because he is simply because of the on the in the streets for the last six weeks the numbers of allegiance have been growing demand in this obviously they have to listen and if we look at the history of the last. sixty years independence we have seen that the military has been a very very important political player all presidents. they had the support of the military. they helped him to change the constitution in two thousand and eight to extend his stake in. the body enjoys the support of the region he stays in so the decision by all the. over the last few days simply he pulled the plug. and everybody knows that he doesn't enjoy the support of the middle east of this went. on the. use of thank you thank you. he is joining us from neighboring capital. had. an interesting situation in algeria isn

everyone is waiting for the constitutional council to rule beautifully his fitness for office based on health reasons it's given no indication when it will make a decision if it rules the president unfit for office parliament must induced a decision by a two thirds majority even if that happens it will only just begin to fulfill the demands of hundreds of thousands of algerians who've spoken out in protest victoria gate and be there that's going to talk all spawn of iran khan who is monitoring events from neighboring tunisia is joining us live from the capital tunis it is the day off the biggest crowds will seem so far in these six weeks of protests in iran what's happening today in terms of the constitutional council what they're thinking about and also what goes around with a fake i will be considering. well we're not saying the kind of numbers of people on the streets as we saw on friday and there seems to be at least a pulls where old policies taking a look at what happens next now the protest movement has made its dumond's very clear they don't just want to get rid of. him self bu

to meet now this constitutional council are going to decide on what's been called article what i for now what is that that allows the parliament to remove with a two thirds majority. from power on health grounds with a protest to say that is simply not enough we need an entire change within the system itself we need new elections and we need a democratic system so we put in place because if even if the president goes then a lot of his loyalists will be seen to remain in power now this is proving to be a very significant challenge for algeria as army is one of the most powerful institutions in play now it has seen the numbers out on the streets all these protesters at it is trying to give the protesters something hence the backing of article one for now is that enough well a lot of the protesters their slogans are very telling they say we don't want to call we want article two thousand and nineteen we want a complete change now the army are trying to manage this they were hoping that they could have taken some of the steam out of the protest movement by announcing the constituti

declared unfit what will happen is that the constitutional council will take over then the national council with mr bin saleh will be will take control and they will organize presidential elections within three months they will continue to hold the rope. of the regime i've been i have not been hearing anyone around me no jira and abroad. celebrating this as any kind of accomplishment the only positive aspect is that citizens a voice is does have power proves that the regime is totally going trying to lead disturbed but wait what is going on and they're trying to find a way out israel's prime minister is threatening further action against gaza the astronauts on monday and palestinian rocket fire from the strip tensions remain high despite an egyptian brokered cease fire are a force that has more now from the gaza border. after a night of israeli bombardments and rocket fire from gaza israeli tanks remain close to the border on tuesday israel had warned of a broader response that in recent escalations that threat was very much on show despite relative calm and talk from hamas of a cease fire.

got the backing of the ruling party for his plan to declare the president unfit to rule the constitutional council is now asking a flicka to resign the protestors in opposition parties say they want the entire government to be removed. a merchant ship that was briefly hijacked by the migrants it had rescued has just docked in malta earlier on thursday multis forces boarded the boats and took back control. the british parliament has failed to agree an alternative to promise to trees and maize bricks a plant and piece of rejected eight different options may promise she would step down they approve the deal she agreed with the european union. syria's state news agency is reporting a number of asteroids have hit the northern city of aleppo. the syrian arab news agency says it was an israeli attack in syria as their defense is intercepted several missiles videos have been shed on social media showing explosions in aleppo syria has not yet been able to verify the claims. meetings are taking place to decide the fate of forty thousand syrians trapped in a remote camp the un is taking part in discussions w

everyone is waiting for the constitutional council to rule on beautifully because fitness for office based on health reasons it's given no indication when it will make a decision if it rules a president unfit for office parliament must endorse the decision by a two thirds majority even if that happens it will only just begin to all fill the demands of the hundreds of thousands of algerians who've spoken out in protest. well let's get more on this we're joined by mark. studies lecturer at catholic university very good to have you with us on al-jazeera again we have spoken over the last six weeks and today we're hearing that it is millions of people an extraordinary number out on the streets of algeria at least a million in the capital g. is many more in other cities is this how much pressure is this putting on the constitutional council as it looks at whether to rule on whether president with africa is unfit for office it should be a huge huge pressure on them. i can see that is making his stories something exceptional the number of people. the number she's grown up in the street prot

saying that it's about time to turn his chops which is going to further pave the way for the constitutional council to go ahead as soon as possible with a trigger in article one two and declaring the man unfit to rule on syria and then what because we were making the point yesterday that even though this is an army intervention it is very much an intervention going by the book. it is. creating some problem in azalea to the point where the army today issued another statement saying that all its actions are within the framework of the us constitution and that is surrounded by an unstable environment and political landscape and therefore the reason why the they had to step in yesterday was basically to safeguard the nation of algeria by suggesting something within the framework of the constitution but however that own vision for the future of a jury is not necessarily in sync with what the opposition of the thousands of algerian protesters have been proposing which is basically they say it's no longer an issue of which of era is over however we don't trust the constitutional council because it's been

mean it would be a long process one and even though we do seem to have a lot of movement the constitutional councilmoving quickly the whole idea of a new constitution and refreshing almost the entire leadership it could be months. and this is creating some problems now as you have the obviously has to be or or that the best way out of the crisis in syria is for this to go through the institutions of the state the constitutional council then the in you enter in president who will have to steer the country away from trouble the protestors or the oppositions are over different view they say that all of that is this you shows that govern and syria now have lost legitimacy because they are all in a way or another affiliated with president our guys with the constitutional council sherman was appointed by the president the government was appointed by the president and many institutions are. backing him what they are suggesting instead is a new independent figure who has huge support among the are serious to leave the country for a transitional period and then they can draft a new constitution and organize

constitutional council is asking president. to resign or be declared unfit for office the army chief has already called for a constitutional provision there removes the president on medical grounds the ruling party has backed him on that goal but the opposition rejected this saying the entire government needs to go now media reports. say at least eleven new private jets carrying business leaders close to have been prevented from taking off from algae is let's go live straight away to have a neighboring it's unique. it's complicated so what's the latest. it is indeed a very complicated political situation in algeria with a great sense of anxiety about the future of the country the army still insists that the only way out of the political crisis that the impasse that has been dragging on for quite some time is to trigger article one which means that the constitutional council has to meet make a decision the parliament will have to absolute majority to approve the move and then the chairman of the chamber of the parliament will tak

and that by asking the constitutional council to step in so in a way if the constitutional council follows this law following army in the army chief says something like this in the open in public to. that mean that he has the the backing of the entire military of algeria well i think one of the reasons why he had to do this is because he lost some of the backing because he stuck to beautifully and the military is very have to a genius put a flake of put one of the very important generals head of intelligence into retirement probably forced retirement so there were quite a few splits within the army but the chief of staff was standing by the side of put to sleep until now so i guess it's internal pressure internal pressure what about all of these people we've been seeing for the past few weeks protesting. they're getting what they want and it's being delivered by the military you're sure you're getting what they want because i know you see a broad spectrum of reactions we see those that say this is none of the business of the army there's people that are speaking about a coup which i wouldn

and we'll get the constitutional council to look at article four but that's the protesters say isn't enough so there's now an impasse going on and the longer that impasse goes on the more powerful it's likely to be that the protests.

salah hold on the constitutional council supply also got a hundred and two under whichch paparliament can declare the president unable to perform his duties. due to illness let's take a listen then at two so last speaking on state television a short while ago today. meme surely there is a one solution that respondso the visisions of each party. and that can be accepted by all means you can talk about. this solution can be found in article one hundred and two of the constitution w we met t thas g. using the let's k keep talkig about the development -- in algeria that and bring in reports simonson at cashierss covering at this story for us up from the capital. was the laces tonight where you are. well actually after the announcement. for the moment there was actually there has been no reaction from the people are in in the streets i i think that people are wondering why article one hundred and two wasn't suggested before i mean when president announced his intetention to r run far. a fiftfth term in social media t for example in some boston commands. we can see that some people are are

constitutional council it's supposed to be the institution that has the constitutional rights through apply for the one hundred two so that's the article. which makes it legal and possible to rule. or to. the second step would be that the parliament convenes and votes on this decision. it's clear what will happen but the parliaments are in the hands of the former ruling parties so it's quite likely that lawmakers will actually vote for it as one of the major parties the and they already supported the from the favorite of the army today so he can thank you very much for bringing us up to date data journalist sophia nuts or there in algiers. turkey is gearing up for key local elections on sunday fifty seven million voters across the country will choose mayors councillors and local chiefs so-called move tars with the turkish economy in trouble the election presents a stiff challenge for a cape or for the a k party a president rest of time fairly won the polls on sunday are being widely regarded as a referendum on arid ones rule our turkey correspondent julia hahn went to meet a politicia

everyone is waiting for the constitutional council to rule beautifully his fitness for office based on health reasons it's given no indication when it will make a decision if it rules the president unfit for office parliament must induced the decision by a two thirds majority even if that happens it will only just begin to fulfill the demands of hundreds of thousands of algerians who've spoken out in protest victoria gates and al-jazeera imran khan is monitoring developments from neighboring tunis son who's joining us from there so what happens next. well old is the now on the constitution it's cold all tickle allows the parliament . to leave office on medical grounds now this was born into place by the army they are the ones that have bought that coal saying that this will stop the protests as it will meet one of their demands but actually what we're hearing from lawyers and activists on the ground is that even if school wanted to is enacted our president beautifully guy has to leave office it won't be enough for the protesters what they're saying is that needs to be a radical overhau

everyone is waiting for the constitutional council to rule on beautifully his fitness for office based on health reasons it's given no indication when it will make a decision if it rules a president unfit for office parliament must endorse the decision by a two thirds majority even if that happens it will only just begin will fill the demands of the hundreds of thousands of algerians who've spoken out in protest. bernard smith al-jazeera. and we're going now to our correspondent who is joining us live from tunis a neighbor intimacy aware arab league foreign ministers is setting up the agenda for a summit on sunday interestingly hashim the situation in algeria isn't expected to be on the arab league agenda. no mention whatsoever of the political crisis although we do understand that the president of the senate. is going to be here. to attend the. summit and i think it's going to be an opportunity for him to talk to many arab leaders about the latest developments on the ground particularly neighboring countries are closely watching the situation as it evolves in syria and in the last few

a constitutional council needs to be established and the president needs to be resigning after the declaration of the state of impeachment of the president which hasn't been the case so the jury people what they feel at this point is that they have been proposed and that is from scratch again outside the framework of the constitution of algeria and doesn't the constitution also say that a president can only extend a term when the country is in a state of war algeria isn't is this government going to be forced to make more concessions as the protests continue. definitely this is only the beginning of the negotiations between the between the people in the streets and the regime and i believe that the regime to resolve this peacefully they need to listen to the demands and try to apply the constitutional nineteen ninety six which actually but for himself he was behind that and he organized the constitutional process what they need at this point is to go to the article eight of the constitution establishes a constitutional council or have the resignation of the president and negotiate other pieces

but at the same time he tries to favor the left wing of his electorate by appealing to the constitutional council that frankly this is a political masquerade as first of the criminal code those who do not have an identity card with a skull i have rarely seen and global is taken literally a current or past bird with them this is the first stage of preventive action if they can be carried out of several police units or the boy during demonstrations the second thing is to actively encourage speakers including myself to coordinate their speeches from the very beginning it should be clearly understood that the government initially hears to a strategy to discredit a social movement that matters of expressing dissatisfaction must change we cannot continue to ask the yellow vast and french people to demonstrate on the street because this point was that. the european commission has branded china a systematic rival and a new document put forward to e.u. member states the document adds ten points to achieve better economic balance with beijing to address what it calls the distortive effect of china's state

s senators by appealing to the constitutional council frankly this is a political masquerade first of the criminal code that allows bernie those who do not have an identity card with them i have rarely seen them to globalist take an identity card or bust birds with them this is the first stage of preventive actions that can be carried out of several police units are deployed during demonstrations the second thing is to actively encourage speakers including myself to coordinate their speeches from the very beginning it should be clearly understood that the government initially here is to a strategy to discredit the social movement that matters of expressing dissatisfaction must change we cannot continue to ask the yellow vests and french people to demonstrate on the streets because it's pointless. european commission's branded china a systematic rival in a new document put forward to e.u. member states the document as ten points to achieve better economic balance with beijing to address what it's called the distortive effect of china's state owned companies the plan also urges all memb

by the army and now may be studied by the constitutional council. in two thousand and fourteen would have to go with exactly the same stage of ineptitude and yet he went on to get a fourth term of presidency so today really what's happening are that the regime is exploring all its option after. trying to get a fifth term after delaying the election now it is going for a constitutional route after it has violated the constitution multiple time ironically now it is. trying to make us believe that their way out for us is the constitution and we know what would happen if it is impeached declared unfit what will happen is that the constitutional council will take over then the national council with mr bin saleh will be will take control and they will organize presidential elections within three months they will continue to hold the rope. over the regime. what do you think protesters will make off this is this likely to have any effect on demonstrations will this mollify the processes. i think it would only die you know my end of it if i had the mobilizat

zero two about derrius constitution says a president should be removed from office if the constitutional council decides he's unable to carry out his duties because of a long term illness if two thirds of parliament agrees the chairman of the upper house will become acting president if we follow the constitutions the one that's the same people who are running the country at the moment we've been in it for the foreseeable future than forty five days to ninety days depending on the situation the elections. we would make him a gentle constitutional or legal arranged. so the game we produce will be will be played according to the rules that exist today and this is what the people in algeria have been calling for or against basically they don't want the politics to continue under disables lizzie's beautifully because hold on power appears to be slipping but some of his critics fear his allies are determined to remain in iraq matheson al jazeera well i will be back is a research fellow at the school of advanced so studies in the social sciences and as you can see she joins us now live from via skype t

declared unfit what will happen is that the constitutional council will take over then the national council with mr bin saleh will be will take control and they will organize presidential elections within three months they will continue to hold the rope. of the regime i've known i have not been hearing anyone around me and abroad. celebrating this as any kind of accomplishment the only positive aspect is that citizens a voice is does have power proves that the regime is totally going to try and totally disturbed but wait what is going on and they're trying to find a way out. israel's prime minister further action against gaza rockets were fired from the strip on monday and israel launched airstrikes tensions remain high despite an gyptian broken ceasefire. after a night of israeli bombardment and rocket fire from gaza israeli tanks remain close to the border on tuesday israel had warned of a broader response than in recent escalations that threat was very much on show despite relative calm and talk from hamas of a cease fire. the increased tension caused israel's prime minister to return ho

is of the view that it would be better to have the constitutional council the parliament take the initiative and appoint them the the chairman of the opposite of the parliament to take over and this is not a view shared by the key opposition figures and the protesters who believe that the problem with algeria is the establishment itself and there needs to be someone independent with an impeccable track record who could reach out to or as unions for a transitional buddy that would lead. to a new era where there would be some dramatic political reforms so we have two narratives now most of which actually for example who is the leading lawyer and human rights activist and one of the key members of the pro-democracy movement in syria said that his concern is that the army could be using their move yesterday to further contain the anger of the algerian people without providing significant details by leave of lisa de opposition member said that the issue not within syria is not the removal of president of the. but the real issue in algeria is to have an independent person to leave the nation for a

constitutional rights to declare the president unfit to rule you it's a it's further it's up to the constitutional council but the fact that also the whole. you know nigeria right now is taking up the statement so that very clearly whom isn't chaunced for everyone knows that it's the army who was the kingmaker in this political game right now all right the algerian journalist is a finance we're putting from algiers thank you and let's get you now the back story on this a developing story with the d.w. arabic said bashir ahmad who's with me here in the studio bashir to talk to us a little bit about what influence this movie is likely to have on this along developing story now are things that have been a struggle for power in the region for the last three weeks. because of the two. of. the article one hundred and two has to be applied is of course that it's too late the people in andrea has been calling for this since six years because they could have been hit by a stroke in two thousand and thirteen and he was not able to talk at all to take any decision since then so what would happen now the constitution

to be unable to perform his duties because of the last thing it would miss then algeria's constitutional council has to assess his condition if it unanimously agrees the president cannot continue it then informs parliament parliament then has to vote what do we need from that two thirds of parliament to support the removal of the president before any action can be taken the chairman of the upper house will then assume a caretaker role that lasts forty five days if the president's illness lasts longer than that then elections can be called it's bring in now who is a research fellow at the school for advanced studies and social sciences on skype from algiers we talked to him a lot about developments in algeria as they happen so what's your take on has i've just explained there article one hundred two if it does go through to a parliamentary vote do you think there is enough support for it that two thirds majority to remove him. well of course we have laughed that far who did it and then we can see there are gates i had the founder of democracy i have the founder of the hat so we should not underst

about an exit strategy the opposition and the protesters are saying no we don't trust the constitutional council because it's appointed by the water we don't trust the government to oversee elections in the future because its affiliated with what we need is someone who has the backing of the millions of algerians to leave the country through a transition period so we have a divided between two narratives two offers one by the army and one by the protesters if the protesters decide to go on friday. with huge numbers that could be an indication they reject the move by the army and that could lead or or deepen the political crisis in algeria a lot to keep an eye on there thank you hashem a whole bar in tunis now questions have been raised in the british parliament about the united kingdom's involvement in the war in yemen opposition labor party has demanded answers after reports in local media that british special forces have been involved in gun battles with yemen's hooty rebels the party's spokesman on foreign affairs emily thornberry also pressed the government on more allegations that british f

re-election police were called out to disperse protesters who tried to block access to the constitutional council where political candidates must register. algerians living in france also rallied in their thousands demanding that were to flick us step aside and allow free and fair elections. because opponents say he's no longer fit to lead due to his poor health and chronic corruption. loads. of people who govern we don't even know who it is they're in the shadows big mafia big everything so you have to stop after a while you just have to stop it we need justice we need equity we need clarity we need a republican we need democracy and we need freedom. there are no transparent elections in algeria it's the administration that does everything elections are rigged to have transparent elections the environment must be appropriate and they must be active political parties in public spaces a lost cause the press is not independent. it was that young algerians complained that there's an urgent need for economic reforms to tackle unemployment higher than twenty five percent among people under the age of

sunday evening an estimated two thousand demonstrators marched towards the constitutional council or political candidates must register some reports say police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse the protesters conan's of beautifully just say he's no longer fit to lead due to his poor health and chronic corruption. joining me now is bashir our own algerian journalist with arabic service make sure we're receiving reports that they're just like i didn't even meet the deadline to hand him the papers confirming his candidacy that he didn't do so in person what do you know about this as a fact there is a big confusion about how far this is the go according to election laws and expects to and even the heart of the electoral commission such of that candidates need to submit the bids in person the constitution the concept but the stuff because campaign announced that such a text such as an obligation doesn't in the law and. in the constitution so as a matter of fact we have now a candidate which the reasons running for a fifth mandate as a president for a jury and we don't know

official papers on sunday evening an estimated two thousand demonstrators marched towards the constitutional councilhere political candidates must register some reports say police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse the protesters opponents of beautifully because say he's no longer fit to lead due to his poor health and chronic corruption. let's have a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world flash floods in southern afghanistan have left at least twenty people dead the army evacuated some four hundred families from hard hit regions of kandahar province but rescue efforts have been hampered by heavy rains the united nations says further air support is required to rescue people who are trapped and in urgent need of aid. five years after the disappearance of malaysia airlines flight m h three seventy call of poorest says it is open to proposals from private companies to resume the search for the aircraft the statement by the country's transport minister offers fresh hope to victims' families. the crew of the international space station has been checking out the c