|
Algerian president home
31/12/2005 18:39 - (SA)
Algiers - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika arrived home on Saturday after five weeks of hospital treatment and convalescence in Paris, to be welcomed by huge crowds who gathered from all over the country, and vowed to pursue reforms.
A smiling and alert-looking Bouteflika, 68, was greeted by two young girls at the airport in traditional costume, before it was the turn of government members and top military and civilian personnel in the north African country.
The president later issued a message to the people through the APS news agency and assured them that his signing of the 2006 budget into law was a "resumption of activity after a forced absence and a month's stay outside the country."
He said he had regained "a full ability to pursue the implementation" of his political and economic reform programme "aimed, first and foremost, at ensuring the safety of citizens and the well-being of our people."
A surprise for onlookers was the presence of Interior Minister Yahid Zerhouni, who had himself been to France for a kidney operation while Bouteflika underwent surgery for a bleeding stomach ulcer.
Speculation about Bouteflika's medical condition amid silence, apart from one brief statement issued 10 days after he was flown to Paris on November 26, overshadowed Zerhouni's illness and the return of the president's close aide was unannounced.
Bouteflika on Saturday publicly thanked French President Jacques Chirac for a "warm and affectionate" reception that he wanted passed on to everyone who had looked after him.
- AFP
|
