Members of Niger's military junta and a transitional government due to be set up will not be allowed to stand in promised elections, the ruling junta said on Wednesday.

The junta, which overthrew President Mamadou Tandja last week after he had ruled the uranium-exporting West African nation for more than a decade, also said its priorities were to clean up politics and restore democracy. But it was reluctant to give a timetable.

The junta, known as the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD) sought to ease fears the military would linger in power.

"We will not remain in power forever. No member of the Council or any transitional body will stand," junta spokesman Col. Abdulkarim Goukoye told reporters.

He said an election would be held but gave no date, saying it would not be a unilateral decision by the junta but agreed upon after talks between all tiers of Nigerien society.

source: Reuters