Abdelaziz Bouteflika Has No Trouble With the Public

Rumors abound about Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's health. So what's his deal exactly? Just ask his staff.

[He] is healthy and working normally, the interior minister said in remarks published on Monday, responding to comments on a recent reduction in the head of state's public engagements.

"The president of the republic is in perfect health and he is working normally," Liberte daily quoted the minister, Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni, as saying on Sunday in answer to a reporter's question on a visit to the eastern town of Annaba.

Algerian newspapers began to wonder about the President after they noted his absences in recent weeks. Where has he been? The answers are kept in the Algerian Book of Secrets.

[Reuters Africa]