The Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday returned to his country after two months in a German hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19 during a period of economic and political crisis.
State television showed the president at a military airport outside the capital Algiers, wearing a suit and sitting in an armchair after he arrived.
In October, The Algerian President flew to Germany after he satted that he was self-isolating, because some of his aids who he had been in contact with had tested positive for coronavirus.
That was the last time Algerians either saw or heard from the president until when he was seen in a video clip where he said he had recovered, though he was looking gaunt.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s prolonged absence fuelled several speculations that he would not be able to finish a presidential term which began a year ago when he won an election which took place during a period of mass protests against the county’s ruling elite.
The demonstration which went on for several weeks, only came to a halt in March when the Algerian Government imposed a nationwide lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The demmands of the protesters included an end to corruption which had bedevilled the country for years, the overthrow of the old ruling elite and the army’s withdrawal from politics.
The oil and gas producing nation had faced a looming economic crisis even before the global pandemic, with its annual spending far exceeding the declining revenue from the sale of energy.
The Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had promised that a series of reforms would be put in place to help diversify the county’s economy. This week, the president is expected to sign next year’s budget and to soon approve dates for the forthcoming local and parliamentary elections.