US envoy meets Algeria President

The U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell paid a non scheduled visit to Algeria on Tuesday and met President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to examine solutions to settle the Palestinian issue.

• “We count on his (Bouteflika) advice and opinions to pursue the mission we have to conduct in the region,” Mitchell said.
• He also said he will hold talks with a large number of officials during his visit in the region to seek support for solutions suggested by the U.S.
• This visit comes after statements made by a US State Department spokesman on the Algerian presidential elections held on April 9. He hailed the re-election of Bouteflika while he said the opposition reports impose on the government to give precisions.
• Algerian politicians including candidates for the poll showed dissatisfaction over those remarks and the ‘indirect’ interference in Algeria’s domestic affairs.
• The US envoy came to Algeria one day after the Constitutional Council formalized the poll results. All it seems that the US envoy gave up the spokesman’s request to the government about those ‘precisions.”
• Mitchell preferred to go by himself to Algeria and convey the U.S. congratulations to President Bouteflika, asking him for advice in how to find a share in the Algerian market.