President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose ailing health has raised concerns, held talks Wednesday with Algeria's veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, national news agency APS said. It gave no details on the meeting with Brahimi, who resigned in May from the post as UN-Arab League envoy on the Syrian conflict. Bouteflika, 77, on Saturday, in a break from tradition, stayed away from public Eid al-Adha prayers marking the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
But in another rare appearance since his re-election in April to serve a fourth term, Bouteflika chaired a September 21 meeting on border security.