Lakhdar Ibrahimi: I do not want to be President

Frequent meetings between Algerian President Bouteflika and former foreign minister Lakhdar Ibrahimi raised many questions about reasons behind them. They may be linked to the former UN envoy’s political ambitions although he is very old, according to observers.

Asked about his meetings with the President, he said they are old friends and colleagues. “There is no political reasons,” he told Berbère TV channel.

Following his usual meetings with President Bouteflika, Ibrahim makes statements to public press, saying they examined issues about the general situation in Algeria and the Arab World.

In their last meeting, Ibrahimi said his visit was not official and they talked about the situation in the country, the Arab World and Africa

Those meetings came to deny rumours about President Bouteflika’s health state.  

Ibrahimi has been received by the President six times since 2013. Some of them were part of his missions as a UN and Arab envoy to Syria. Other visits were personal causing media interpretation. 

He has not held any official position since he resigned from the UN in August 2013.