ALBAWABA - Ali Mahaman Lamine Zene was announced as the new prime minister of Niger on national television on Monday night by the coup's leaders replacing the former Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou. Zene was the former finance minister and director of the Niger cabinet.
Ali Mahamane Lamine Zene was appointed by a decree issued by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, the former commander of the Niger's presidential guard who proclaimed himself the head of a transitional government, the caretaker government, which calls itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country.
Zene is anticipated to oversee consultations for the election of a new administration. Zene currently serves as the African Development Bank’s Country Manager for Chad and previously held the same position and institution in Gabon and Ivory Coast.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional bloc of West African nations, will hold a second emergency session on Thursday in Nigeria to discuss the political situation in Niger after the military authorities disregarded its demand that they transfer power.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that diplomacy is certainly the preferred way of resolving this situation in an interview with French Radio RFI.
"It is ECOWAS' current approach. It is our approach," he added, referring to the West African bloc amid efforts to reinstate the ousted democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum, who was detained last week.
Niger Coup
A military coup, which was organized by a group of soldiers known as the "National Council for the Restoration of Democracy and Security," ended in President Mohamed Bazoum's ousting on July 26.
