Bolivian President Carlos Mesa said on Sunday he is resigning after 17 months in office as a new wave of protests spread throughout the Andean nation of 8 million.

Mesa announced his decision on radio and television on Sunday night and said he will tender his resignation to Congress on Monday.

It was not immediately clear who would take over from Mesa, perhaps as an interim leader, or if elections would be called before the presidential term ends in 2007.

Mesa, a political independent, was vice-president when he took over in October 2003 after President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada fled the country during a bloody popular revolt that left about 80 people dead.

Polls showed the former TV journalists was popular, but his hands were tied by a Congress controlled by traditional parties and an increasingly organized indigenous majority whose leaders are prone to protests.

In January, Mesa was hit by protests on two fronts, sparked by a rise in fuel prices but extended to other issues. Poor Indians protested against a French-owned water utility, while the wealthiest province, Santa Cruz, called for autonomy. Mesa defused both protests by making important concessions.

But in the last week, protests flared again on several fronts and many of the main roads had been cut, hurting economic activity in the gas-rich nation.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies March 7, 2005)