Algiers - Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said on Wednesday that he wanted to step down to concentrate on his job as secretary general of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN).
Speaking on radio, he said he needed all his time to work at renewing the divided party and building up its grassroots support, but that the decision was up to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the FLN's honorary chairperson.
Belkhadem and Bouteflika were elected to their FLN posts in February at a party congress aimed at resolving a long, bitter row over leadership and policy.
The FLN until the 1980s was the sole ruling party in the north African country after it led a liberation war to win independence from France in 1962, but has been overhauled several times since.
Belkhadem said Wednesday the party "will work in cooperation with the other political partners in implementing (Bouteflika's) programme for a just and equitable society."
Algeria's newspapers have been speculating for several weeks about a cabinet reshuffle affecting a number of ministers. - AFP