Speculation over Algerian president Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (right) has not been seen in public for a while. Picture: AP

Three weeks after being rushed to hospital in Paris, Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has disappeared from sight, leaving behind a country preparing for a successor who for the first time will come from a generation too young to have fought in Algeria’s war of independence against France.

In a country run with Soviet-style secrecy, nobody is sure how sick Mr Bouteflika is. But despite an official bulletin last week saying he was recovering from a minor stroke, most believe the 76-year-old must be seriously ill to have disappeared from public view for so long.

France’s Le Point magazine cited medical sources this weekend as saying some of his vital organs had been badly affected. Algerian newspaper editor Hichem Aboud said that, according to his sources, Mr Bouteflika – who survived cancer in 2005 – was in a deep coma. French and Algerian officials declined to comment but local media have hinted that the country is preparing for a new era.