Bouteflika Back Home after Paris Check-Up

Veteran Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika flew home Thursday after a Paris medical check-up that had raised questions about his ability to run for a fourth term in April.

Bouteflika, 76, has ruled the north African nation continuously since 1999 but a mini-stroke that confined him to a Paris hospital for three months last year has created concerns for the political future of a country seen as pivotal to the fight against al-Qaida across the Sahara.

The president's office had insisted that the check-up was entirely routine and Algeria's APS news agency reported that it had found an "an overall improvement" in his health that had enabled him to return home earlier than planned.

Bouteflika has until Sunday to convene the organizing committee for April's election in which the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) named him as its candidate in November despite his failing health.

Bouteflika's presidency has been dogged by health concerns since as far back as 2005, when he underwent surgery in Paris for a bleeding stomach ulcer, and with a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable two years later suggesting he might be suffering from terminal cancer.

The transient ischemic attack, or mini-stroke, that he suffered last April kept him out of the country until late July and he has not been seen in public since.

But he has never named a favored successor and has not ruled out the possibility of accepting the FLN's nomination to stand for re-election, creating mounting political uncertainty.

Opposition parties have seized on his latest hospitalization as evidence that he is incapable of carrying out his duties, let alone standing for a fourth term.

"It proves once again his inability to accomplish the least of his duties, and encourages those calling for him to be declared incapacitated as stipulated by Article 88 of the constitution," said Atmane Mazouz, spokesman for the mainly Berber Rally for Culture and Democracy.

Bouteflika's opponents had insisted the constitutional clause be invoked in April but had little chance of mustering the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament, which is dominated by the FLN.

The FLN nominated the ageing president as its official candidate in November and the party's secretary general Amar Saidani said on Sunday that he was "sure" he would run.

'Unimaginable'

Such comments come alongside a rising chorus of criticism from the opposition.

Abderrazak Makri, the leader of Islamist group the Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP), said it was "unimaginable" that Bouteflika would take part.

"Everyone knows he's sick... People only talk of his illness, when normally one would discuss a president's actions, his record," Makri told Agence France Presse.

An expert on Algerian politics said the ruling elite was preparing for a fourth Bouteflia mandate without regard for his condition, in what he described as "a scorched earth policy without violence."

"Bouteflika has gone to France to get a medical certificate that will make all political intentions obsolete," he said speaking on condition of anonymity.

Algeria's independent media has been equally alarmed by the renewed concerns about the ageing president's condition.

"The issue of the medical certificate is becoming ever more pressing, for one very simple reason. The president's health is fragile. He can't even make himself heard or stand up," said the Arabic language daily El Khaber.

"Never have we fallen this far into such a futile situation, to the point where we're searching for signs of facial movement," mocked the Quotidien d'Oran in an editorial on Thursday.

El Watan, another Algerian daily, said the absence of any reliable official communication was to blame for the "speculation" and "wildest rumors."

On Wednesday evening, a supposedly trustworthy source told several media outlets that important information would later be announced on the national television channel A3, which turned out to be false.

Justice Minister Tayeb Louh, who is close to the president, has meanwhile insisted that preparations for the election are taking place as normal.