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Chancellor Merkel’s visit to Algeria has been called off because President Bouteflika is too sick to meet. The two-day trip was part of an effort to stem migration from North Africa in an election year in Germany.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s two-day trip to Algeria was postponed at the last minute on Monday owing to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s severe case of bronchitis.
German and Algerian authorities agreed to reschedule the visit due to Bouteflika’s “temporary unavailability,” the APS state news agency reported, citing a presidential statement. Dates for a rescheduled visit are yet to be announced.
The surprise cancellation came shortly before Merkel’s plane was set to take off from Berlin and as German flags lined the Algiers airport in preparation for the German chancellor’s arrival.
Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s government spokesman, wrote on Twitter that the Algerian government requested the postponement and that “the chancellor complied with the request.”
Algeria’s 79-year-old leader rarely appears in public since a 2013 stroke left him confined to a wheelchair. In the past, he has traveled several times to France for medical treatment.
Bouteflika has been in power since 1999 and his current term will end in 2019.
