Algerian president’s post-COVID foot operation a ‘success’

ALGIERS — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune underwent a successful foot operation in Germany on Wednesday after post-COVID-19 complications, the presidency said on Wednesday.

Tebboune "has had an operation on his right foot, with success", said a statement published on the Facebook account of the presidency.

The president is expected to return to Algeria in the "coming days", as soon as his medical team agrees, it added.

Aged 75 and a heavy smoker, Tebboune was originally hospitalised in Germany on October 28. Algerian authorities later confirmed that he had the COVID-19 illness.

He returned home in late December and dealt with urgent business including signing a new constitution into law and approving the annual budget.

Then the presidency announced 10 days ago that he had travelled back to Germany for further medical attention to complications involving his foot.

A November referendum on an altered constitution, strongly backed by the presidency, received the backing of less than 15 per cent of the electorate.

The vote was overshadowed by the pandemic and calls for a boycott by the Hirak protest movement.

Tebboune in December 2019 won office in another widely boycotted poll, with an official turnout of less than 40 per cent.

That came eight months after mass Hirak protests had swept his ailing predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office.

Tebboune's initial convalescence in Germany had reminded many Algerians of octogenarian Bouteflika's frequent hospitalisations abroad.

Upon his return to the country in December, Tebboune appeared to have regained weight and looked in reasonable health.

He had suggested that he had nearly recovered, but was seen wearing a brace on his right foot.