Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, who was appointed prime minister by the military last week, said Niger is in a process of transition and remains willing and open to talk to all parties, but he insisted on Niger’s need to be independent.

He spoke after a trip to meet Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno the same day.

Also on Tuesday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said its chiefs of staff plan to meet in Ghana on Thursday and Friday to discuss a possible military intervention in Niger to reinstate Mohamed Bazoum, the president of Niger overthrown by a military coup on July 26. 

Earlier ECOWAS gave Niger’s military rulers a one-week ultimatum, warning of military intervention if the generals who carried out the coup failed to restore power to President Mohamed Bazoum by August 6. But the deadline expired without action. 

In a phone call with Mali's military leader Assimi Goita on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a peaceful solution to the crisis and underscored the need to resolve the situation in Niger through peaceful political and diplomatic means.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the Biden administration was committed to a diplomatic resolution, adding that Niger was a partner Washington did not want to lose.