Niger's junta leader General Abdourahmane Tiani says the country will pursue a transition process which will last not more than three years and warned that any attack on the country would not be easy for those involved.
"Our ambition is not to confiscate power," General Abdourahamane Tiani said in a televised address. Any transition of power "would not go beyond three years", he said.
The junta leader also announced a 30-day period of "national dialogue" to draw up "concrete proposals" to lay the foundations of "a new constitutional life".
General Tiani who was head of Niger's Presidential Guard, deposed his boss Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 sparking international condemnation and pressure on him to relinquish power.
His address followed a meeting with a delegation from West Africa's main regional bloc ECOWAS.
Open to dialogue
The ECOWAS team had also met ousted president Bazoum during a visit to the capital Niamey on Saturday. The delegation travelled to Niamey seeking a peaceful rather than military solution after senior army officers seized power in a coup.
The the visit by the team led by former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar comes a day after ECOWAS military chiefs announced they were ready to intervene to reinstate the ousted president.
Th junta leader said they were open to dialogue and would not want war but that they would defend their country in the event of any military intervention.
"If an attack were to be undertaken against us, it will not be the walk in the park some people seem to think," Tiani said.
Head of the ECOWAS delegation, Abdulsalami Abubakar told reporters that a ''headway has been made'' and ''negotiations will continue.'' He said the ousted President Bazoum informed them about ''some problems'' he was facing ''due to the wrong done to him.''
The ECOWAS mediator did not give details but said they would give feedback to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu who is the chairman of the regional bloc.
Last resort
This is the first time an ECOWAS team has met with the junta leader and the deposed president. Their previous attempts were rejected by the military rulers.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has agreed to activate a "standby force" as a last resort to restore democracy in Niger after generals detained President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26. But it says it favors dialogue to defuse the crisis.
There have been international calls on the military rulers to relinquish power but they have remained adamant so far.
The regional bloc ECOWAS has imposed economic sanctions against the country as part of such pressure with the junta describing such sanctions as ''illegal'' and ''unjust'' citing its impact on the citizens.
