Rabat – The President of the Algerian Republic, Abdelaziz Boutflika, is to receive medical treatment at an undisclosed European destination, Algerian local media reported.
Algeria’s head of state was evacuated by air ambulance from Boufarik military airport, 35 km away from Alger, according to Algerian news website “Impact24.”
The President reportedly has not been taken to France, but to another European state after a short stop in Switzerland. The choice of the country was driven by concerns related to confidentiality, according to the report.
In a similar turn of events in November last year, President Bouteflika received medical treatment at a hospital in Grenoble, France.
The President’s health troubles began in 2005 when he spent one month in France to receive treatment for a bleeding ulcer. He was subsequently hospitalized in 2006, 2011, and again in 2013, when his health seriously deteriorated.
Bouteflika, 77, suffered a transient ischemic attack in 2013, and was flown to Val-de-Grace military hospital in France, before being transferred to the Institution des Invalides for convalescence and rehabilitation.
Since then, Bouteflika has made only rare public appearances due to his failing health. Opposition parties have called upon him to resign and convene early elections.
Bouteflika came to power in 1999. He was reelected for a fourth term as President in April 2014.
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