Algeria’s Bouteflika: returns to Algiers

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has returned home after a brief visit to France for routine medical checkups, the presidency said in a statement carried by the APS state news service on Saturday.

Bouteflika, 78, who suffered a stroke in 2013, traveled to France on Thursday. He has been seen mostly in brief television images or in photographs on state media since winning a fourth term in office last year.

Bouteflika won his re-election in 2014 promising stability and strong security policies in a region where many neighbouring countries are struggling with Islamist militant attacks.

Under Bouteflika’s government, Algeria has become a partner in Washington’s campaign against Islamist militants in the Maghreb and a major supplier of natural gas to Europe since emerging from its own 1990s war with Islamist fighters.