The military perpetrators of the coup in Niger announced Monday evening, August 7, the appointment of a Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, in a press release read on national television, at a time when the international community is seeking to restore the constitutional order. “Monsieur (Ali Mahaman) Lamine Zeine is appointed Prime Minister,” reported Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane.
As soon as he came to power, former President Mamadou Tandja appointed Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine in 2001 as chief of staff, then Minister of Finance 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 marked by seizures of power by force.
Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine had been Minister of Finance until the overthrow of Mamadou Tandja in a 2010 coup by Commander Salou Djibo, before a presidential election won by Mahamadou Issoufou, predecessor of Mohamed Bazoum, ousted on July 26 last. Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, an economist by training, was also resident representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) 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 Center for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies of Marseille and Paris-I.
“Lieutenant Colonel Habibou Assoumane” was also “appointed Commander of the Presidential Guard”, Amadou Abdramane added. These appointments come the day after the expiry of the ultimatum issued by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the military in power, to restore President Mohamed Bazoum to his duties. The organization did not rule out the use of force in the event of non-compliance with this request.
Niger’s Western and African partners are divided over the question of a military intervention to return power to civilians, before ECOWAS meets again Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria. President Bazoum is still sequestered in his private residence since the day of the coup.
Diplomacy is the “preferable way” to resolve the crisis caused by the coup in Niger, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Monday. “It is certain that diplomacy is the preferable way to resolve this situation. This is the approach of ECOWAS, this is our approach and we support the efforts of ECOWAS to restore constitutional order,” said Antony Blinken, referring to the Community of West African States.
