Elections called for next February in Algeria have been put back two months.

President Liamine Zeroual said he was determined to hold a fair and credible vote and the move would give the political parties more time to prepare.

Mr Zeroual stunned the country in September with the unexpected announcement that he was cutting short his term of office by two years to stage new elections, in which he would not be a candidate.

His latest statement shed no further light on that decision, which the BBC North Africa correspondent says is believed to be the result of factional disputes within the army, which has controlled politics in Algeria since cancelling elections in 1992 when it became clear an Islamist party would win.