Close to a fortnight since the military assumed control in Niger, the orchestrators of the coup have designated Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a former economy minister, as the nation’s new prime minister.
A spokesperson for the military junta conveyed this announcement via television late on Monday evening.
Lamine Zeine had previously held the role of economy and finance minister for several years within the cabinet of then-president Mamadou Tandja, who was deposed in 2010. More recently, he occupied the position of economist at the African Development Bank in Chad, as reported by a Nigerien media outlet.
Towards the close of July, the military unseated the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and suspended the constitution in the nation inhabited by 26 million people.
Under Bazoum’s leadership, Niger had been one of the Western world’s final strategic partners in the battle against the encroachment of Islamist militants in the Sahel region.
An ultimatum issued by the West African regional community ECOWAS to the coup instigators, demanding the reinstatement of Bazoum, lapsed over the weekend.
The ultimatum further outlined that if this demand was not met, ECOWAS would undertake measures that might encompass the use of force.
The prime ministers of ECOWAS member states are scheduled to convene in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Thursday to deliberate on the subsequent course of action.
