With President Abdelaziz Bouteflika quitting , the worry is that Al Qaeda terrorists will now seize control in Algeria.
The Islamic extremists will almost certainly try to fill the political vacuum left by the 82-year-old’s departure on 2 April.
The president resigned after 20 years at the helm when the military told him to go following continuing street protests.
Earlier in March, leading Al Qaeda official Abu Ubaydah Yusuf al-Anabi urged Muslims to “unite” to ensure Algeria is ruled by sharia law.
Al-Anabi, designated a “terrorist” by the US State Department in 2015, called on citizens to reject any regional or tribal identities and unite as “sons of Islam” to create an Islamic emirate.
The speaker of the Algerian upper house of parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, has become the country’s 90-day caretaker president until elections are held.
But one protest leader said the street demonstrations will continue because “we do not accept the (caretaker) government”.
