President Abdelaziz Bouteflika landed in Algeria on Sunday, the presidency confirmed, after spending two weeks in a Swiss hospital while protesters have massed at home in the biggest threat to his 20-year rule.
An Algerian government plane transporting the president had arrived at Boufarik military airport just southwest of the capital. Top Algerian officials often use that airport.
Tens of thousands of Algerians of all social classes have protested over the past three weeks against Bouteflika's decision to stand in April's election.
In the clearest indication yet that the generals sympathize with them, the chief of staff said the military and the people had a united vision of the future, state TV reported. Lieutenant General Gaed Salah did not mention the protests.
The ruling FLN party urged all sides to work together to end the political crisis. It wants national reconciliation and to preserve security and stability, the station said.
But there are no signs Algerians are prepared to heed that call after rejecting Bouteflika's offer to limit his term after the election.
On Sunday, thousands took to the streets of the capital carrying the Algerian flag and chanting: "Bouteflika, there will be no fifth term". Many shops in Algiers were closed and residents said train services had been suspended.
Young Algerians are desperate for jobs and angry about unemployment, corruption and an elderly elite in the North African country, a major oil and gas producer.
The demonstrations began after the 82-year-old Bouteflika, rarely seen in public since a stroke in 2013, announced in a statement Feb. 10 his plan to run for a fifth term in office. Protests snowballed in the following weeks with huge nationwide marches after Friday prayers.
The protests took place while Bouteflika lay in a hospital bed in Geneva undergoing what were described as medical tests. The president, who appears partially paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, has undergone numerous periodic checkups. But the latest stay has lasted some two weeks. His official candidacy was filed March 3 in his absence, bolstering detractors' claims that Bouteflika is an unfit candidate for the April 18 election.
