Bolivia is in political crisis today after President Carlos Mesa offered his resignation last night amid angry demonstrations and a blockade of the country's capital city, La Paz.

President Mesa, a political independent with little party support in Congress, offered to leave power last night in the face of enormous protests from Bolivia's Indian population and poorer communities, who demand the nationalisation of the country's energy reserves, the second largest in South America.

For the last two weeks, La Paz has been effectively blockaded by the protests, with trenches and roadblocks in the satellite city of El Alto controlling the access of gasoline, meat and bread to the city. And on Monday night, thousands of protesters, including Indians, students and miners throwing sticks of dynamite into the air, approached the presidential palace.

Appealing for calm and a lifting of the blockade, President Mesa announced his resignation in a late night television broadcast: "It is my responsibilty to say that this is as far as it can go. I have taken the decision to present my resignation from the presidency."

In view of the unrest, Israel yesterday started to airlift Israeli tourists from Bolivia, flying backpackers to Juliaca in neighbouring Peru.

Congress must accept President Mesa's resignation for it to become effective, and last night the head of Congress, Hormando Vaca Diez, announced that he would decide today when to call a session. President Mesa, a historian and former news anchor, also offered his resignation last month, but that was seen as a political ploy to lower tensions in the country.

President Mesa has apparently succumbed to the intractable problems that he promised to solve when he took office nineteen months ago. He was unable to bring a truce between Bolivia's indigenous Indian population and the poorer parts of the country, which want to see the country's energy industry nationalised, and the wealthier, eastern part of Bolivia, which has benefited from the presence of foreign oil and gas companies. President Mesa has also had to contend with demands for autonomy for the eastern regions of the country.

The current crisis started last month after Congress passed a new energy law, which raised taxes on foreign companies working in the Andean country. Indian and opposition leaders said the law did not go far enough to benefit ordinary Bolivians.

Under the constitution, if Congress accepts President Mesa's resignation then power will pass to the head of Congress, Hormando Vaca Diez, until elections can be held.

But last night, opposition groups called for his resignation too. Evo Morales, an indigenous leader, told Reuters that both Mr Vaca Diez and the leader of the lower chamber of Congress should leave their posts.

Violent protests over natural gas policy accounted for the last Bolivian president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, in 2003.

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