Algeria President in First TV Appearance in Almost Two Months

Sunday, December 13, 2020

An image grab taken from a video published on the personal twitter account of Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on December 13, 2020 shows him delivering a speech to a camera next to an Algerian flag.

By AFP

Algiers

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Sunday he was recovering from the Covid-19 illness, in his first televised appearance since he was hospitalised in Germany almost two months ago.

"Thanks to God... I have started on the road to recovery," the 75-year-old said a day after the first anniversary of his election.

"It may take two or three weeks but, God willing, I will recover all my bodily strength."

The video was broadcast on state television and published on Tebboune's Twitter feed.

He did not indicate his location, but the Twitter feed carried the comment "we will meet soon on the territory of the nation".

Crisis fears

Tebboune was hospitalised in Germany on October 28, and Algerian authorities later announced that he had the Covid-19 illness.

His absence had sparked concerns of an institutional crisis, weeks after voters approved a revised constitution on record low turnout in a referendum widely seen as a manoeuvre to neutralise the long-running Hirak protest movement.

Tebboune has been unable to sign the revised constitution into law because he must be on Algerian soil to do so.

He also has until December 31 to sign off on a 2021 budget.

But he said Sunday he was following developments in Algeria "day by day, if not hour by hour".

Visibly thinner and wearing a casual jacket, he sat at a desk next to an Algerian flag.

Tebboune won last year's widely boycotted December 12 presidential election, following months of mass protests that had swept his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office.