Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 75, was hospitalized in Germany at the end of October after being infected with Covid-19. He has not reappeared since.
In what state of health is the Algerian president? One month after the emergency transfer of Abdelmadjid Tebboune to Germany, to be treated for the coronavirus, opacity remains on his state of health, fueling rumors and questions about the direction of the country. Aged 75, President Tebboune was admitted on October 28 in “one of the largest specialized establishments” in Germany, without specifying the location.
In fact, he’s been away for at least five weeks. Because he was “voluntarily in isolation” from October 24 – the date of his last tweet – after having been in contact with senior officials of the presidency and the government who were infected, then admitted to a care unit specialists from the Ain Naâdja military hospital in Algiers. “His state of health does not inspire any concern,” then assured the presidency.
امتثالا لنصيحة الطاقم الطبي لقد دخلت في حجر صحي طوعي إثر إصابةإطارات سامية برئاسة الجمهورية والحكومة بكورونا. وأطمئنكم أخواتي وإخواني أنني بخير وعافية، وإنني أواصل عملي عن بعد إلى نهاية الحجر، متضرعا إلى المولى عز وجل أن يعافي جميع المصابين ويحفظ جزائرنا الحبيبة من كل بلاء.
— عبدالمجيد تبون – Abdelmadjid Tebboune (@TebbouneAmadjid) October 24, 2020
“This long absence due to illness, coupled with a“ protocol ”of information, which indicates that the president is really ill,” observes Algerian political scientist Mohamed Hennad. “But if this prolonged absence is a problem, it is not because of the disease itself, it is because power, lacking in state culture and common sense, complicates existence for nothing. because the truth always ends up breaking out, ”notes Mohamed Hennad.
The specter of Bouteflika
The absence of Abdelmadjid Tebboune woke up the specter of the power vacuum during the hospitalizations abroad of Abdelaziz Bouteflika after his serious stroke in 2013. Following this episode, it was his brother Saïd who led the country and tried with the presidential clan to impose a fifth term of Bouteflika, pushing the Algerians to take to the streets en masse in February 2019. Abdelaziz Bouteflika will resign on April 2, 2019 under the double pressure of the army and the uprising popular, novel and peaceful, of the Hirak.
Since his departure for Cologne, aboard a French medical plane according to Algerian media, six statements, summary and sometimes contradictory, have been distilled by the presidency. Thus, after announcing on October 28 that he was hospitalized in Germany for “in-depth medical examinations”, the presidency explained the next day that he was receiving “adequate treatment and [that] his state of health” was “stable and not worrying ”, without ever specifying what is suffering from Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a heavy smoker.
It was not until November 3 that a concise statement announced that he was infected with Covid-19. Five days later, the presidency indicated that the head of state was “in the process of completing his treatment”. Then on November 15, another press release stated that he had completed his treatment and was undergoing “medical examinations”.
Since then, it has been official silence, except for a dispatch from the official APS agency on November 20, reporting a letter from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, “in which she is delighted that he has recovered from his infection. to coronavirus ”. When questioned, a German government spokesperson replied that “the German Chancellor (had) sent a written message of speedy recovery to Algerian President Tebboune”, without further details.
Appeal to recourse to section 102
This at least fragmentary communication and the absence of images of the president continue to fuel rumors and speculations of all kinds in Algeria, at a time when this country is undergoing a resurgence of the pandemic.
