ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) – When Abdelaziz Bouteflika ran for a fourth term as Algeria’s president a year ago, the opposition cautioned that he would be too sick to govern.
Those fears proved well-founded: the 78-year-old leader has been almost totally absent since his April 2013 stroke. Since his re-election, Bouteflika has only presided over three cabinet meetings, and each only lasted long enough for the TV cameras to capture, said a high official present at the time.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, the official said the business of government has been paralyzed because ministers cannot submit new laws to parliament without the president.
The absence of Algeria’s stroke-hit president from daily life is being felt more keenly than ever as the basis of this oil-rich North African nation’s stability, its oil money, is under threat.
“This situation was totally predictable,” said Soufiane Djalili, the young leader of the opposition New Generation Party. “Before last April’s election, we said that once Bouteflika is elected, he will return home and the country will fall apart – and that’s what’s been happening.”