Niger is on an "inexorable" march to "sovereignty", the west African country's military leader said on Thursday in a speech to mark the first anniversary of a coup d'etat that brought him to power.
Abdourahamane Tiani took power on July 26, 2023 after overthrowing elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
"Our march towards full and complete sovereignty is inexorable," said Tiani, two days after former colonial power France demanded Bazoum's "immediate and unconditional release" from detention.
Breaking neocolonial order
"No state, no inter-state organisation will tell us how to behave, nor what programme of strategic or diplomatic partnerships to follow," Tiani added in a nationally televised speech.
France spoke out against Bazoum's detention following a decision to lift his immunity from prosecution.
Tiani was the head of Bazoum's presidential guard before removing him from power.
"Those who fantasise about an imminent return to the saddle of power of the regimes in their pay will be disillusioned," said Tiani, insisting that the West African country was on the path to "breaking the neocolonial order".
Western troops expelled
Since taking power, the junta has distanced itself from France and moved towards Russia's orbit.
French forces battling armed groups in the Sahel were expelled at the end of 2023.
The junta has also scrapped a military cooperation deal with the United States, whose troops completed a withdrawal from the capital this month and are due to leave a base in northern Niger by mid-September.
Dozens of people have been killed in clashes between the Nigerien army and militants in the north in recent weeks.
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