Who is Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, the new Prime Minister of Niger

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: KAREN BLEIER / AFP 18:13 p.m., August 08, 2023

The military perpetrators of the coup in Niger announced Monday night the appointment of a prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, in a statement read on national television, at a time when the international community seeks to restore constitutional order. "Mr. (Ali Mahaman) Lamine Zeine is appointed prime minister," Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane reported. As soon as he came to power, former President Mamadou Tandja appointed Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as Chief of Staff in 2001, then Finance Minister in 2002, to redress a chaotic economic and financial situation.

A context inherited from soldiers who came to power after the assassination in 1999 of General and President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, in this country with a history punctuated by seizures of power by force. Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine had been finance minister until the overthrow of Mamadou Tandja in a coup d'état in 2010 by commander Salou Djibo, before a presidential election won by Mahamadou Issoufou, Mohamed Bazoum's predecessor, who was ousted on July 26.

Economist by training

Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, an economist by training, has also served as the African Development Bank's (AfDB) Resident Representative in Chad, Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon. Born in 1965 in Zinder (south), in the second most populous city in the country, he joined the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1991 after studying at the National School of Administration (ENA) in Niamey. He is also a graduate of the Centre d'études financiers, économiques et bancaires de Marseille and Paris-I.

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"Lieutenant-Colonel Habibou Assoumane" was also "appointed commander of the presidential guard," Abdramane added. These appointments come a day after the expiration of the ultimatum issued by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the military in power, to restore President Mohamed Bazoum in his functions. The organization did not rule out the use of force if this request was not complied with.

Niger's Western and African partners are divided over military intervention to return power to civilians, ahead of ECOWAS meeting again on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria. President Bazoum has been held captive in his private residence since the day of the coup.