Publications
Partners
Grenoble - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, has been admitted to hospital in the southeastern French town of Grenoble, a French government source told AFP on Friday.
The clinic did not offer a reason for his hospitalisation nor give an update on his condition but Bouteflika has been in poor health since 2013 when he was treated for a "mini-stroke" in Paris.
The Algerian presidency did not confirm the report. Bouteflika has hardly been seen in public since his re-election in April.
According to the regional newspaper Le Dauphine Libere, Bouteflika was admitted in the cardiology unit of a private clinic called the Alembert. It said the entire floor had been booked to ensure security.
About 35 anti-riot police were deployed in and around the hospital and cordoned off the street.
A police source said Bouteflika discreetly flew into Grenoble on Thursday.
Bouteflika is a war veteran who became Algeria's youngest minister at the age of 25 and has ruled the country since 1999.
He spent 80 days being treated for the mini-stroke in 2013. He returned to Algiers looking frail in a wheelchair in July of that year and was not seen in public for months. He travelled back to Paris for more minor treatments in January.
That did not stop him standing for election for a fourth time in April, winning with more than 80% of the vote. The opposition refused to recognise the result.
