Algeria president appoints three new ministers

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has reshuffled his cabinet, appointing new foreign, interior, and justice ministers.

Bouteflika also named a new vice defense minister on Wednesday.

Analysts say the appointments are meant to boost the president’s allies ahead of next year’s general elections, in which many say the ailing president may not run.

Seventy six-year-old Bouteflika suffered a heart stroke in April this year. In July, He returned to his country after receiving treatment at a hospital in France.

Bouteflika had been reelected for a third term in 2009.