Ailing president Abdelmadjid Tebboune has returned to Algeria after convalescing in Germany for 60 days. It is not clear however if he has recovered or if he had to interrupt his healing process to pass the 2021 budget law to shun being incapacitated. His last appearance in a video address on twitter showed that he has significantly lost weight and his voice succumbing to illness. Algerian analysts evoked the application of Article 102 of the constitution, according to which power should go to the Upper House speaker if the President is incapacitated. Now, Tebboun’s sickness has come to symbolize an ailing Algeria that has failed to use its massive oil wealth to lift the country from utter dependency on oil and gas.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 30, 2020 01:18 UTC