Return of Bouteflika raises questions about the future of the Algeria

by Béatrice Faraz

Algiers, July 17, 2013 (AFP)

Return to the House of the Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after nearly three months in hospital in Paris raises questions about his ability to fill in the last nine months of his term, say commentators.

In a brief video aired on Tuesday state television, Bouteflika appeared pale and tense as he has seen its first circle of officials in the meeting.

Their discussion was inaudible, apart a point when the President, who had spent 80 days in France after a mini-stroke, made an effort to say 'Inshallah' (God willing).

It was almost a repetition of images of June 11 in which he was seen receiving the Abdelmalek Sellal Premier and Army Chief general Ahmed Gaid Salah at the hospital in Paris.

The earlier broadcast sparked a wave of rumors about Bouteflika's health instead of reassuring the public and the Algerian press.

His State of health has been a source of constant speculation in Algeria, where little has been revealed about the condition of the man who has ruled the country since 1999.

Wednesday, the media response was similar to images of the month last hospital - with speculation on its two own and the country of the future.

All the newspapers made a declaration of the Presidency have reported his return after foreign information networks announced Tuesday his rather inconspicuous departure from Paris.

His Office said that Bouteflika "will continue to rest and undergo therapy", but did not say for how long.

Some media commentators said that many thought.

"It will perform his duties?" asked the evening paper the evening Algeria and El Watan.

"Although it is clear that Bouteflika will be not to put his candidacy for a fourth term, is it capable of remaining President until its current mandate" expires in April 2014, asked El Watan.

Daily is generally critical 76-year-old head of State who has been in power for 14 years.

The fragile health of Bouteflika has weakened his chances of standing for a fourth presidential term, although his supporters have still not ruled out.

During his stay at the hospital in Paris, it has been credited with making policy and sending the messages to several countries.

Bouteflika "never stopped exercising the functions of office," the daily L'expression wrote Wednesday.

But he still needs to sign a complementary finance law for 2013 and to manage other major Affairs of State.

And it also has to implement political reforms launched in the wake of the Arab spring, the changes that the opposition found do not go far enough.

The ongoing constitutional reforms also appear to have been put on hold during his absence.

The head of the daily French freedom, Abrous Outoudert, writing in an editorial that, in may 2012 Bouteflika "himself said that his generation will pass the torch to generation post-independence." But he failed to lead by example. He did not follow his words by acts."

The political commentator Kamel Daoud, writing in the French daily of Oran, was even more direct.

He said that prolonged hospitalization of President seems exhausted him completely.

Daoud said that Algeria has discovered during his absence that Bouteflika was not necessary, but the change is necessary.

A fierce critic of the Algerian political system, Daoud believes return of the head of State will not change anything.

"Nothing except how to kill time until the next presidential election."The man is going to save time, the country will lose and it suit a controlled transition, he wrote.