The military junta in Niger Republic has appointed the country’s former economy minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as the new prime minister. Zeine is expected to head discussions on the creation of a new government.
A spokesman for the military junta made the announcement on national television late on Monday night.
This is coming almost two weeks after the military took over power in the country.
58 year-old Zeine, who comes from Zinder-the country’s second most populous town, joined the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1991 after studying at the Ecole nationale d’administration (ENA) in Niamey. He is also a graduate of the Centre d’études financières, économiques et bancaires in Marseille and Paris.
He was formerly the minister of economy and finance for several years in the cabinet of then-president Mamadou Tandja, who was ousted in 2010. Before his new appointment, Zeine had worked as an economist and resident representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon.
After Tandja’s overthrow, Zeine was one of only three ministers who were not promptly released from house arrest in the days after the coup. According to one of the junta leaders, Colonel Djibrilla Hamidou Hima, the ministers “still under surveillance” had held “very sensitive portfolios” and therefore it was necessary “to ensure their security”.
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