Niger junta appoints economist Ali Lamine Zeine as Prime Minister
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The announcement was made via Niger's state television RTN.
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Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, pictured in Washington in 2008 (AP)
The new military junta in Niger appointed on Tuesday economist and former finance minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as the country's Prime Minister.
The announcement was made via Niger's state television RTN.
The newly appointed Prime Minister currently holds the position of spokesman for the African Development Bank in the Chadian capital N'Djamena and previously held the same role in Cote d'Ivoire and Gabon.
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The crisis in Niger was sparked on July 26, when the presidential guard detained President Bazoum, leading to the subsequent declaration of interim leadership by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who also assumed the presidency of the Caretaker National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland.
ECOWAS has resorted to implementing a full pressure campaign on the country, which included the closure of land and air borders between the bloc's countries and Niger, the suspension of all commercial and financial transactions with it, and the freezing of the country's assets in ECOWAS Central Banks.
The bloc gave Niger's coup leaders one week to reinstate the detained president, or the community would use "all measures," including military, to "restore order" in the African nation.
On their part, the military governments of Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger's neighbors, warned that any military intervention against Niger would be considered a declaration of war against them.
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