The Algerian head of state has been hospitalized since the end of October in Germany. The date of his return to the country is still not known.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, infected with the new coronavirus and hospitalized since the end of October in Germany, has completed his treatment and “is currently undergoing medical examinations”, the Algerian presidency announced on Sunday in a statement. “The accompanying medical staff ensures that President Tebboune has completed the prescribed treatment protocol and is currently undergoing post-protocol medical examinations,” according to a concise statement.
This press release was issued “in the application of the instructions” of Mr. Tebboune to “inform the public of the evolution of his state of health”, underlined the presidency. Rumors and some newspapers close to the government reported last week of an “imminent return” to Algiers of the 74-year-old president.
Tebboune has been treated in a German specialist hospital since October 28. He had been transferred there urgently after the announcement of suspected cases of Covid-19 in his close entourage. He had placed himself in isolation a few days earlier. When he arrived in Germany, he was immediately admitted to “one of the largest specialist hospitals” in the country for “in-depth examinations”.
Next return home
In a statement relayed by the presidency, Mr. Tebboune had personally held, on November 8, “to reassure the Algerian people who are awaiting their return to the country”, affirming “that their state of health is improving”. His hospitalization abroad prevented Mr. Tebboune from taking part on November 1 in the referendum on a constitutional revision, one of the flagship projects of the Algerian president. If the “yes” prevailed, the ballot was however marked by a record abstention in the history of Algeria and a massive disavowal of the regime.
The prolonged absence of the head of state has awakened the echo, for many Algerians and in the media, of the vacancy of power during the hospitalization of the ousted former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika after his serious stroke in 2013.
