Sharm Al Shaikh: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday evening arrived at the resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh, flying in from Germany where he had his gall bladder removed on March 6.
An alert Mubarak, 81, accompanied by his wife Suzanne and his elder son Ala'a, got off the plane, which landed at 6pm (Cairo time) at the airport of Sharm Al Shaikh where he will convalesce for two weeks.
Welcome
Senior state officials including ministers of defence and the interior as well as the speakers of the parliament's two houses lined up to welcome Mubarak, who shook hands with some of them before being driven in a presidential car.
Earlier in the day, Egypt's official television quoted Dr Markus Buechler, the chief medical doctor at the German Heidelberg Hospital, where the operation was carried out, as saying that Mubarak had fully recovered from the effects of the surgery.
"I have, however, recommended that the president continues his convalescence back home during the coming two weeks before he gradually returns to his full and normal activity," added Dr Buechler. Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981, has yet to say if he will seek a fresh term after his current tenure ends next year.
Mubarak has not said whether he plans to run for a sixth six-year term in a presidential election due in 2011. While his son Jamal is widely touted as a successor, both father and son deny such plans.
Possible presidential candidates include former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammad Al Baradei, who in his first public appearance since returning to Egypt last month was met by supporters chanting "You are our hope" at Friday prayers.
Members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party welcomed his return.
Political stability
"The smooth passing of this period of the president's absence without any kind of a power struggle within Egypt is proof of the political stability of the country and its government," said Gihad Oudah, a member of the NDP's policy committee headed by Jamal Mubarak.
