Niger Coup Plotters Name Economist As New Prime Minister

The New Diplomat
Writer
The Sahel Tug-of-War: U.S. And Russia Face Off For Influence In Niger

Ad

An Unusual View Of Banditry, By Azu Ishiekwene

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, is hardly in the news. Lawal has enough on his plate in a region struggling with banditry and insurgency, and in a state whose political heavyweights oppose him over political differences. He has learned to mind the state’s business, hardly ever throwing stones except when attacked by Abuja politicians who…

FBI Release Information About Suspects Linked to Murder of Charlie Kirk

FBI receives more than 130 tips Officials have received more than 130 tips, as of this morning. "I assure you that all leads and tips are being fully investigated," said Robert Bohls, special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City field office. He asked that anyone with video or images from the shooting…

Jubilation as Abuja court jails Ansaru leader Mahmud Usman 15 years for terrorism

By Obinna Uballa A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Mahmud Usman, a top commander of the proscribed Ansaru sect, to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges. Usman, widely known by his aliases Abu Bara’a, Abbas, and Mukhtar, admitted to engaging in illegal mining and funnelling the proceeds into…

Ad

By Agency Report

Nearly two weeks after the military took over power in Niger, the coup plotters have named former economy minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as the country’s new prime minister.

A spokesman for the military junta made the announcement on television late on Monday night.

Lamine Zeine was formerly the minister of economy and finance for several years in the cabinet of then-president Mamadou Tandja, who was ousted in 2010, and most recently worked as an economist for the African Development Bank in Chad, according to a Nigerien media report.

At the end of July, the military ousted the democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum and suspended the constitution in the country of 26 million inhabitants.

Under Bazoum, Niger had been one of the last strategic partners of the West in the fight against the advance of Islamist terrorists in the Sahel.

An ultimatum from the Economic Community of West African States to the coup plotters to reinstate Bazoum expired over the weekend.

Otherwise, ECOWAS would take measures that could include force, the ultimatum said.

The prime ministers of the ECOWAS member states will now meet in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Thursday to discuss how to proceed.

(dpa/NAN)

Ad

Unlocking Opportunities in the Gulf of Guinea during UNGA80
X whatsapp