(UKPA) – 7 hours ago

The junta that seized power in the West African nation of Niger says its leader is squadron chief Salou Djibo.

Armed soldiers stormed the presidential palace, kidnapping the country’s president.

It is not clear where President Mamadou Tandja is.

The soldiers later announced on state TV that the country’s constitution had been suspended and that Niger is now being led by the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy.

In a statement on Friday, the council said Djibo is its leader and that government business would be handled by heads of government ministries and Niger’s regions until a new government is formed.

The junta said it wanted to turn Niger into “an example of democracy and of good governance.”

A diplomat in the region described the coup’s leaders as being part of an army faction that is deeply disillusioned with Tandja for violating his constitutionally mandated term limit.

The uranium-rich country has become increasingly isolated since then, with the 15-nation regional bloc of West African states suspending Niger from its ranks and the US government cutting off non-humanitarian aid and imposing travel restrictions on some government officials.

However, there are also fears that the military group could attempt to cling to power in Niger, as the junta in Guinea did following a December 2008 coup. The coup leader there first promised to hold elections in which he would not run, only to later to suggest he may have changed his mind. Only a year later, he went into voluntarily exile after his aide-de-camp tried to assassinate him.

The African Union’s (AU) top executive, Jean Ping, condemned the coup in Niger and said the AU “demands a quick return to constitutional order”. Meanwhile in Washington, US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Tandja may have invited his own fate by “trying to extend his mandate in office.”