The Niger junta names a new prime minister

In a statement read aloud on national television on Monday night, the military coup leaders in Niger announced the selection of Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as prime minister at a time when the international community is attempting to restore constitutional order.

Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane announced that Mr. (Ali Mahaman) Lamine Zeine had been chosen Prime Minister.

In an effort to stabilize the country’s tumultuous economic and financial position, former president Mamadou Tandja named Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine cabinet director in 2001 and subsequently finance minister in 2002.

In a nation where the history is marked by the usurpation of power by force, this was a circumstance where the military took over after the assassination of General and President Ibrahim Baré Manassara in 1999.

Mr. Zeine served as finance minister from 2008 until Major Salou Djibo overthrew Mamadou Tandja in a coup d’état in 2010, just before Mahamadou Issoufou, Mohamed Bazoum’s predecessor, won the presidential election on July 26.

A trained economist, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine served as the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) resident representative in Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Chad.

He was born in 1965 in Zinder (South), the second-most populated town in the nation, and after completing his studies at the Ecole nationale d’administration (ENA) in Niamey, he joined the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1991. He also holds a degree from the Center for Financial Studies, Economics, and Banking in Paris and Marseille.

Mr. Abdramane continued, “Lieutenant-Colonel Habibou Assoumane has also been “designated Commander of the Presidential Guard.”

After giving the reigning military an ultimatum to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced these selections the next day. If this requirement was not complied with, the organization did not rule out using force.

Before the next meeting of the ECOWAS, scheduled for Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria, there is disagreement among Niger’s Western and African allies about the topic of military involvement to restore civilian rule.

Since the day of the coup, President Bazoum has been isolated in his own home.