Algeria's Bouteflika recovering- PM Abdelmalek Sellal

Algeria’s 80-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is doing very well, the country’s prime minister said on Thursday in remarks aimed at assuring the public on the health of the north African leader.

Bouteflika rarely appears in public since a crippling stroke hit him in 2013.

He has been receiving foreign heads of state in private at his official residence in Zeralda, west of the capital.

The country’s prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, recently visited Tunisia and Egypt on behalf of the president. He signed several agreements, including on security cooperation.

“There is coordination between Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria. We have even expanded the cooperation to neighboring countries like Sudan, Chad and Niger, because there are relations between terrorist groups from the Sahel, which has negative consequences for the Libyan problem,” Sellal said.

Tunisia, Libya and Algeria are concerned about insecurity at their borders with Libya, which have become transit routes for jihadists groups, arm dealers and many migrants who want to reach Europe.