Sanday Chongo Kabange, AfricaNews reporter in Lusaka, Zambia
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has returned home after surgery in Germany to remove his gall bladder and a growth from his small intestine. Mubarak's arrival was broadcast live on television with government officials and military leaders on hand to greet him.
Mubarak, 81, had been recuperating in Germany following the operation at Heidelberg University Hospital.
His chief doctor there said he had "fully recovered".
"I have recommended however that the president continues his convalescence back home during the coming two weeks before he gradually returns to full and normal activity," Markus Buechler added in his statement.
Government-run mosques across Egypt have offered prayers for Mubarak's recovery.
Reports say the president's health is usually a taboo subject in Egypt, and a cause of political and economic uncertainty because he has no obvious successor.
When he left for Germany, the president temporarily handed over power to his Prime Minister, Ahmed Nazif.
Mubarak has been in power for 29 years and his fifth six-year term ends in 2011.
In 2004, he underwent back surgery in Germany and handed over temporarily to then Prime Minister Atef Obeid.
In 2003, he collapsed during a televised speech in parliament, apparently from a bout of flu.
