Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesprime minister of Niger since 2023. He was appointed prime minister by the Niger military junta on 8 August 2023, and appointed finance minister on 10 August 2023. He previously served as minister of the Economy and Finance from 2003 to 2010.
Biography
Ali Lamine Zeine was born in 1965 in
Zinder
Zinder (locally, ''Damagaram''), formerly also spelled Sinder, is the third largest city in Niger, with a population of 170,574 (2001 census);
and graduated from the Centre for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies in
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
and Paris-I. He has worked as a resident representative of the
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...
in Chad, Ivory Coast and
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
.
After serving as Director of the Cabinet of President
Mamadou Tandja
Mamadou Tandja (1938 – 24 November 2020) was a Nigerien politician who was President of Niger from 1999 to 2010. He was President of the National Movement for the Development Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 and unsuccessfully ran as the MNS ...
, Zeine was appointed to the government as Minister of the Economy and Finance on 24 October 2003.
After newspaper editor Boussada Ben Ali alleged that Zeine had stolen money that was part of an oil contract between Niger and China, Ben Ali was arrested on 23 January 2009 and sentenced to three months in prison for disseminating false information on 6 February 2009.
Tandja was ousted in a
military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
on 18 February 2010 and his government was dissolved. As one of Tandja's key associates, 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 Hima Hamidou, the ministers "still under surveillance" had held "very sensitive portfolios" and therefore it was necessary "to ensure their security". The MNSD called for the release of Zeine, Tandja, and the others.