Bolivian President Carlos Mesa said on Sunday he was resigning after 17 months in office as new protests spread through South America?s poorest nation and threatened the important oil and gas sector. Mesa, a political independent, announced his decision on radio and television on Sunday night and said he would tender his resignation to Congress on Monday.

?I have reached a limit in my work,? Mesa told the Andean nation of 8 million, adding that his government had faced 820 protests since taking office in October 2003. He said authorities would not be able to control a nationwide protest to force changes in rules governing Bolivia?s vast natural gas resources expected to take place in coming days.

That protest is organized by coca farmer Evo Morales? Movement to Socialism or MAS, which is unpopular in Washington because of its opposition to the U.S.-led war on drugs. Presidency Minister Jose Galindo said the country?s political future should be defined by Congress. If Congress accepts Mesa?s resignation, it could opt for an interim leader or call new elections before the presidential term ends in 2007.

Mesa 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 67 people dead and hundreds injured in what came to be known as the ?Gas War.? Sanchez de Lozada had planned to export Bolivian gas via traditional foe Chile, stirring violent protests, particularly in El Alto, the explosive indigenous city of 800,000 that overlooks the capital, La Paz.

<B>Important concessions</B>

Polls showed that Mesa was popular, and about 1,000 people gathered outside the presidential palace in downtown La Paz to express support for him after his speech. He appeared on the balcony to thank them. But his hands were always tied by a Congress controlled by traditional parties and an increasingly organized indigenous majority, particularly in El Alto and among Morales? followers.

In January, Mesa was hit by protests on two fronts, sparked by a rise in fuel prices. El Alto?s poor inhabitants protested against a French-owned water utility, while the wealthiest province, Santa Cruz, called for autonomy. At that time, Mesa said he would resign before people died in the upheaval, but he ended up defusing both protests by making important concessions.

Peace lasted just over a month before new protests broke out in several parts of the country, blocking key roads and interrupting transport. In El Alto, protesters forced the French company Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux?s water concession be canceled despite the high cost to the state, and Mesa said they planned to invade the international airport and cut water supplies off to La Paz. In the meantime, Morales stepped up his campaign for a more radical hydrocarbons law that would make it tougher to operate for multinationals that have already invested over $3 billion to exploit the continent?s second largest natural gas reserves after Venezuela.

?The MAS wants an unworkable and impossible law because the multinationals will take us to international courts,? Mesa said in his speech to the nation. MAS followers also threatened to invade oil fields, forcing one company to close a well this weekend. Morales, who lost the last presidential election to Sanchez de Lozada, said Mesa?s resignation could be reversed and accused him of ?blackmailing the country.?

<B>Mario Roque</B>