Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, the former finance minister installed as prime minister by Niger's military junta, says the country is in transition and will insist on its independence. He was speaking on a visit to Chad, where he met the president.
"We are in a process of transition. We have explained the ins and outs, reiterated our willingness to remain open and to talk to all parties, but we have insisted on the need for the country to be independent," said Zeine.
"We have to say it: it is a sovereign country. We should talk with all partners who understand that."
He met Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Tuesday, on what the Chadian government described on Facebook as a "working visit".
Zeine said he had brought a message of "good neighbourliness and good fraternity" from the Niger's regime.
Deby, who was himself appointed after a coup, has acted as a mediator in the Niger crisis. He visited the country shortly after elected president Mohamed Bazoum was detained at the end of July, meeting both Bazoum and the coup leaders.
Ecowas meeting
Zeine's statement came hours after the exiled foreign minister of Niger, Hassoumi Massoudou, told RFI and its sister TV station France 24 that the international community should not accept a so-called transition in Niger, because "that would mean accepting the coup as a fait accompli".
"It's a hostage-taking situation and as a ransom of the hostage-taking, the junta asks to stay in power through a transition. The goal of all putsches is a transition," he said.
The junta that seized power has held Bazoum, his wife and son under house arrest in their compound in the capital since 26 July.
It says it plans to prosecute Bazoum for "high treason" and undermining state security, crimes that are eligible for the death penalty in Niger.
The West African bloc Ecowas has threatened to use military force if Bazoum is not reinstated and has ordered forces onto standby for a possible intervention.
Regional defence chiefs plan to meet on Thursday and Friday to discuss the coup, an Ecowas spokesperson told The Associated Press.
It will be the first such meeting since the bloc activated the standby force, which it says will only be used as a last resort.
US, Russia call for peace
"I believe that there continues to be space for diplomacy," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Tuesday.
"The pressure that's been exerted by many countries including through Ecowas on the military leaders responsible for disrupting the constitutional order in Niger is mounting. I think they have to take that into account, as well as the fact that their actions have isolated them from the region and the world."
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin also called for a non-violent resolution to the crisis. He was speaking during a phone call with the military leader in Mali, who was also installed in a coup in 2020.
Putin "stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel," Mali's interim President Assimi Goita said on social media after the call.
Russian influence in West Africa has grown while the West's has waned following coups in Mali and other countries in the region.
In a sign that the United States is seeking to extend its access, a new US ambassador to Niger is expected to arrive in Niamey at the end of the week. The US hasn't had an ambassador in the country for nearly two years.
(with newswires)
