The African Union (AU) demanded on Saturday that Niger's military "return to their barracks and restore constitutional authority" within 15 days, after seizing power in a coup d'état.

Cited by Lusa, the African Union's Peace and Security Council demanded that "the military return immediately and unconditionally to their barracks and restore constitutional authority within a maximum of fifteen (15) days," reads a statement released after a meeting yesterday, Friday, on the coup in Niger.

On Wednesday morning, a group of members of the Presidential Guard blocked the entrances to the Presidential Palace.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, they announced the resignation of the President, Mohamed Bazoum - whom they detained - and the suspension of the Constitution, a declaration "endorsed" hours later by the Army General Staff.

Also on Friday, in a television broadcast, General Abdourahmane Tchiani was presented as "the head of state who represents Niger in international relations".

The military junta, which calls itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), announced the dissolution of all the institutions provided for in the Constitution, while at the same time announcing that it was exercising "all legislative and executive powers" until the "return to normal constitutional order".

These actions provoked an avalanche of condemnations from the international community - the United Nations, the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union (EU), La Francophonie, and countries such as the United States, Spain and France - which called for Bazoum's release and the preservation of constitutional order.