NIGER’S junta is ready for talks with the regional Ecowas bloc, it says — while also announcing its intention to prosecute ousted president Mohamed Bazoum for high treason.

Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane said on national television that the new authorities had “gathered the necessary evidence to prosecute before competent national and international authorities the ousted president and his local and foreign accomplices for high treason and for undermining the internal and external security of Niger.”

Technically, being found guilty of high treason charges could carry the death penalty.

The junta’s announcement said that high-ranking west African politicians and “their international mentors” have made false allegations in a bid to justify a military intervention in Niger.

Ecowas has announced that it is preparing a standby task force to march into Niger and restore Mr Bazoum if necessary. The deposed president remains under house arrest with his wife and son in the presidential palace. Reports by confidants of the family saying that they have been denied food, water and electricity were disputed by the junta on Sunday.

The same day, mediation team of Islamic scholars from Nigeria met junta representatives and reported that they were ready for talks with Ecowas, which a junta spokesman confirmed later that evening, saying they would go ahead “in coming days.”

Major mobilisations in defence of the junta have continued, with protesters demanding the withdrawal of French and US military bases in the country. France’s domination of the economy through its control of the uranium mining sector and the currency, the west African franc, have been cited as grievances behind the popular support for the military.