Niger’s military coup d’etatists announced the appointment of Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as Prime Minister on Monday evening in a statement read on national television, at a time when the international community is seeking to restore constitutional order.
Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane reported that “Mr (Ali Mahaman) Lamine Zeine has been appointed Prime Minister,”
Immediately upon coming to power, former President Mamadou Tandja appointed Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as chief of staff in 2001, then finance minister in 2002, to remedy the turbulent economic and financial situation.
A situation inherited from the soldiers who came to power following the assassination of General and President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in 1999, in a country whose history is marked by grabbing of power by arms
Mr. Zeine was finance minister until Mamadou Tandja was ousted in a 2010 coup by Major Salou Djibo, before Mahamadou Issoufou, Mohamed Bazoum’s predecessor, won the presidential election. Over throne on July 26 Mr. Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, is a higher respected economist, and is also the resident representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon.
Born in 1965 in Zinder (south), the country’s second most populous city, he joined the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1991 after studying at the National School of Administration (ENA) in Niamey.
He also graduated from the Center for Research in Finance, Economics and Banking in Marseille and Paris-I.
“Lieutenant Colonel Habibou Assoumane” has also been “appointed as commander of the presidential guard force”, Abdramane added.
The appointment comes a day after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) issued an ultimatum asking the ruling military to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum.
The Organization does not rule out the use of force if this requirement is not met.
Niger’s Western and African partners are divided on the issue of military intervention to return power to civilians, before ECOWAS reconvenes on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria.
President Bazoum has remained isolated in his private residence since the day of the coup.
