News - World: Niger's ousted prime minister says he is still hopeful that the leaders of the country's recent coup, who have overthrown the civilian rulers, might still give in to diplomatic overtures.

"We are still hopeful," Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, who was in Rome when the coup occurred, said on Saturday.

Niger's military has been holding the country's president, Mohamed Bazoum, since last month in the seventh coup to hit Africa's Sahel region in recent years. General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the powerful presidential guard, has declared himself leader.

"We expect President Bazoum to be released, reinstated, and all institutions that were allegedly dissolved to be restored in their entirety," the premier said.

On Wednesday, the self-declared new leader of Niger said the junta would not bow to pressure to reinstate the deposed head of state, intensifying a standoff with the main West African bloc of countries, which has threatened to intervene.

On July 30, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave the coup leaders a week to return power to the country's civilian authorities or face consequences, including the use of force.

Their pledge has raised the specter of further conflict in the region.

Also on Saturday, Niger's former colonial power France said it would support efforts to overturn the coup, without specifying whether its backing would entail military assistance for an ECOWAS intervention.

Niger's junta has accused France of planning a military invasion.

Taking aim at Paris late last month, the junta said, "In its search for ways and means to intervene militarily in Niger, France, with the complicity of some Nigeriens, held a meeting with the chief of staff of the Nigerien National Guard to obtain the necessary political and military authorization."

The ousted prime minister, however, shrugged off the threat from Niger's neighbors, saying that to go to Niger, they would have to cross through the militant groups that "they have not succeeded in fighting."

"So for us, it's an empty threat," Mahamadou added.

Source: Press TV