Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is recovering in France from surgery, will return to Algeria before the end of the week, a top aide said. Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a presidential adviser who heads the National Liberation Front party, said Bouteflika would be resuming his official activities before the end of the year. "Bouteflika will be back in three or four days in Algeria to sign the 2006 budget and pursue his activities," Belkhadem said late Sunday. "The president of the republic will be in possession of all his intellectual and physical faculties to continue to rule and to implement his program," he said. "One thing is for certain, the president of the republic will be here before December 31," the aide was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. The 68-year-old North African leader was flown to Val de Grace military hospital in Paris on Nov. 26 with an unspecified gastrointestinal problem.
