Former economy minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine has been appointed as the nation’s new prime minister by the coup plotters in the Niger Republic.
The declaration was made on Monday, August 7, by a military junta spokesman.
Lamine Zeine most recently served as an economist for the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Chad. Lamine Zeine served as the minister of economy and finance in the administration of former president Mamadou Tandja for a number of years before he was overthrown in 2010.
The ECOWAS’s decision to schedule another meeting to discuss the Niger crisis coincides with the junta’s selection of Zeine.
At its meeting in Abuja in August, ECOWAS gave the Niger junta a seven-day deadline to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum or face sanctions, including potential military intervention.
A meeting notice for this Thursday in Abuja was sent on August 7 by ECOWAS chairman and President Bola Tinubu.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has convened another Extraordinary Summit of the Authority on the political situation in the Republic of Niger,” the announcement read. On August 10, 2023, a summit will take place in Abuja.
The political climate and recent events in Niger will be taken into consideration and discussed by the ECOWAS Leaders during the Summit.
