Caïd Essebsi to Echorouk: “I ​​met with Bouteflika for a couple of hours, he enjoys good health”

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s health “good”, Head of the Nidaa (Appeal) Tunisia political party, Albahi Kaid Sebsi, said.

Tunisian politician added that “Bouteflika is still sick” and that last Wednesday’s meeting has dealt with Tunisia’s political affairs and ways to promote relationships between the two countries.

“The two hours meeting with President Bouteflika showed that he returned to his normal health. There was a fraternal atmosphere. I and President Bouteflika are friends since days of the armed fights, and we discussed the reality of relationships between the two countries, as Bouteflika gave us a number of tips.”

Essebsi refused to reveal Bouteflika’s advises, and asserted: “President Bouteflika told us that Tunisian and Algerian securities are related to each other”.

The interview with Essebsi revealed that Bouteflika stressed the need to combat terrorist groups in Tunisia, especially in Djebel Chaanbi and pay attention to the home front which notices some cramping between the political parties, especially among Béji Caïd Essebsi and the Head of Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi, on the successor of the opposition’s demands led by the Tunisia Nidaa Movement on the need to bring down the government.

Regarding the leaks that talk about Algeria’s mediation by President Bouteflika between Essebsi and Ghannouchi, especially as he had received the two men in two separated events on Tuesday and Wednesday, as Essebsi said: “We did not ask mediation of President Bouteflika, but it is only natural that we visit the president after his treatment, as we were unable to visit him in France.”

Essebsi refused to talk about mediation, and this also happened when he met with Ghannouchi in Paris last month, but the leader of Tunisia Nidaa Movement, Mounthir Al Hadj Ali, confirmed on the meeting between Béji Caïd Essebsi and Bouteflika, that he came to discuss the current political crisis in the country and the solutions to end it, adding that the entry of Algeria in mediating aim to end Tunisia’s political crisis that cast a shadow on the security and economic situation of the country, and that will affect both countries.

Essebsi asserted: “President Bouteflika is in good health and we are happy for that situation. He is not sick, he enjoys good health. Do not say that he is sick.”