Washington, DC — Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced he's prepared to amend the constitution so as to make Tamazight, also known as Berber, a national language.

The news comes as a major breakthrough for the country's Berbers who have held a series of major demonstrations against the government over the past year.

However, even though the president's proposal represents an important political concession, it would have to win popular approval in a referendum to take effect.

Bouteflika's statement is therefore unlikely to appease all Berbers who plan to go ahead with a previously scheduled march Friday in the capital Algiers.

Arabic is currently the sole official language of the state in Algeria.

Since independence from France in 1962, Berber activists have pressed for recognition of their cultural rights, but the killing of a young Berber student in Kabylia last April, added new tensions to those already crippling the nation.

The authorities have been struggling to put down an Islamist insurrection for a decade.

The daily La Tribune reported that Prime Minister Ali Benflis announced a series of initiatives yesterday in favour of the Citizens' Movement, set up by the Kabyles to press their economic, political and cultural rights. Topping the list of those important initiatives is acknowledgement of Tamazight as a national language.

The paper says the President's new initiatives are part of his efforts to find reliable solutions to the legitimate questions posed by the Citizens Movement for several months now.