Algeria's president returns from Germany after Covid-related surgery

Abdelmadjid Tebboune returns before the second anniversary of the launch of the Hirak protests

A video grab taken from footage broadcast by Algeria's Canal Algerie 2 on February 12, 2021, shows President Abdelmadjid Tebboune meeting government officials after his return to Algiers after a one-month stay in Germany for surgery following post-Covid-19 complications. AFPShow less

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune returned home on Friday after a one-month stay in Germany for surgery following post-Covid-19 complications in his foot.

"The President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, returned today," the state broadcaster said, but did not broadcast images of his arrival.

Mr Tebboune, 75, had been in hospital in Germany last year after contracting Covid-19, and stayed there for two months before returning to Algeria.

He returned to Germany on January 10, and underwent a "successful" operation on his foot 10 days later, according to the presidency.

Following his return, Mr Tebboune called German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to thank him for the medical care he had received.

Mr Tebboune's return comes amid tension in the North African nation ahead of the second anniversary of the launch of the Hirak protests on February 22.

Reports of the Algerian president's recurrent medical trips abroad have sent a wave of uncertainty in a nation where people are eager for a change, analysts said.

Mr Tebboune's absence has reminded Algerians of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's regular hospital stays in France and later Switzerland, after he suffered a stroke in 2013 that rendered him incapable of speech and movement.

Algeria has been struggling to ease economic pressure caused primarily by the sharp fall in oil prices resulting from reduced global demand during the pandemic.

So far, Algeria has recorded more than 110,000 cases and 2,900 deaths from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

Algeria launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign starting in the northern city of Blida on January 31, days after receiving its first shipment of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

During Mr Tebboune's absence, Algeria's foreign minister participated in an Arab League emergency meeting called by Egypt and Jordan last week in Cairo, where more than a dozen Arab states gathered.

The meeting passed a three-page resolution that prioritised the Palestinian-Israeli conflict once again, in addition to discussing the Libyan conflict and the war in Yemen, as the league's members announced that they would not put up with foreign interference in their affairs.

Mr Tebboune won office in December 2019, eight months after the popular Hirak protest movement swept out his ailing predecessor.