Butaflika returns to Algeria this week

The chairman of the Algerian National Liberation Front said that the Algerian President Abdul Aziz Butaflika will return to Algeria within "four days, at most" after a journey for medical treatment he spent in one of the hospitals in Paris.

In a statement to the Algerian news agency, Balkhadem added he is also the personal representative for the Algerian President Butaflika, and that the president will sign the budget law for 2006 before the end of the year. He also explained that Butaflika will continue his mission as head of the state and will shoulder his full responsibility.

The Algerian President Butaflika ( 68 year old) is spending a leave period in Paris after he checked into the hospital on December 17.

The Algerian president made assurances via the Algerian TV by the end of last week to the Algerian people over his health condition. This was hours after he left the military Val De Grace hospital in Paris where he had spent three weeks.