Niger's President Mamadou Tandja has warned that he will not give in to pressure to scrap plans to extend his mandate beyond the constitutional limit.

In a televised speech, the president said it was at the request of the people he had called a referendum on 4 August about a new constitution that allows him to stay on indefinitely beyond the end of his second consecutive five-year term in December of this year.

The president's plan has plunged the country in a deep political crisis. To hold the poll, Mr Tandja, 71, has dissolved both parliament and the Constitutional Court. The opposition has voiced outrage and is threatening to stage a coup and use all legal means to prevent the referendum. UN Secretary-General Bank ki Moon has expressed concern that the crisis will seriously destabilise Niger. Earlier this week the European Union has threatened to suspend its aid to Niger if the president goes ahead with his referendum.

Photo from Pan-African News Wire File Photos / Flickr