Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika meeting with the French prime minister at his residence
during an official visit, in Zeralda, a suburb of the capital Algiers.
Bouteflika will turn 80 years old on March 2, 2017. PHOTO:AFP
Algeria’s President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has rarely appeared in public since a crippling
stroke in 2013, marks his 80th birthday on Thursday amid persistent doubts over
his health.
He suffered a bout of
bronchitis in February, forcing German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the last
minute to cancel a scheduled visit to Algiers and sparking renewed speculation
about his future.
“The president has not
directly addressed the Algerians since 2012. No Algerian can believe that there
is not a power vacuum,” Ahmed Adhimi, a professor of political science at the
University of Algiers, told AFP.
In
a May 2012 speech, Bouteflika hinted he would give up power at the end of his
third term in 2014.
“For
my generation, it’s game over,” the president told a room full of young
Algerians.
But
despite a stroke the following year which forced him to spend nearly three
months recovering in France, he fought the 2014 election and soundly beat his
longtime rival, former prime minister Ali Benflis.
Bouteflika
attended his inauguration in a wheelchair, barely able to deliver more than a
few paragraphs of his speech and mumble through the oath of office.
Since
then, he has rarely appeared in public, receiving foreign heads of state or
government in privacy at his official residence in Zeralda, west of the
capital.
–
‘Power vacuum’ –
His opponents repeatedly speak of a power vacuum at the top of government.
His opponents repeatedly speak of a power vacuum at the top of government.
But
Bouteflika has clung to power, restructuring the army and intelligence services
and keeping rivals at bay.
In
2015, he dismissed the Abdelkader Ait Ouarabi, a powerful counter-terrorism
chief known as “General Hassan” who was later sentenced to five years in jail
for destroying documents and disobeying orders.
The
following day, Bouteflika dismissed secret service boss General Mohamed
Mediene, a political kingmaker during his 25 years at the head of the DRS
intelligence agency.
But
the cancellation of the octogenarian’s meeting with Merkel last month rekindled
doubts about the state of political life in Algeria.
“Bouteflika’s
illness is not a problem in itself,” said Redouane Boudjemaa, a media expert at
the University of Algiers.
“The
real debate is not about whether the president goes or stays, but about the fate
of this system, (which is) corrupt, resistant to any change and ready to keep
him president for life,” he said.
For
many Algerians, the president’s long disappearances reflect an opaque system
dominated by the military.
“I
sometimes question the authenticity of the images broadcast on (public)
television showing President Bouteflika receiving foreign guests,” said Mourad,
a retiree aged nearly 70 who struggles to get by on a derisory pension.
He
said he is “convinced that the army has ruled the country since the country’s
independence in 1962”.
But
Djamel, an employee of Algeria’s state railway company, said Bouteflika had
achieved a lot and “sacrificed himself” for Algeria.
“He
accepted a fourth mandate to complete the projects he launched,” he said, underlining
the division of public opinion on Bouteflika.
A
veteran of Algeria’s war of independence, “Boutef” was born on March 2, 1937 in
the Moroccan border town of Oujda to a family from Tlemcen, western Algeria.
In
power since 1999, he has faced a decade of health problems that have forced him
to spend long periods being treated abroad.
A
bleeding stomach ulcer dispatched him to Paris for an operation in late 2005,
one of multiple stays in French hospitals.
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