- Members of the week-old military junta in Niger will not be allowed to contest the elections.
This has been an assurance given by the military authorities in Niamey following a recommitment to return the country to civilian rule.
However, no clear calendar has been hinted, as to when the elections will be held.
Media reports have quoted a spokesman for military rulers, Colonel Abdoul Karim Goukoye, as also committing to hold transparent and free elections.
Niger’s president, Mamadou Tandja, was overthrown last week by the army and has since been reportedly under house arrest, together with several members of his defunct cabinet.
Reports have also surfaced that countries such as Morocco have offered to take Mr Tandja into exile, but the military junta is yet to make a decision on that.
The army has said that its aim for overthrowing the government was the restoration of "an exemplary" democracy and good governance in Niger.
The coup d'état had been a reaction to President Tadja's unpopular and unconstitutional drive to maintain power in the impoverished country. Despite protests from Niger's constitutional court, parliament and foreign countries - including West Africa's regional block ECOWAS - President Tandja forced through a new constitution shortly before scheduled elections that allowed him to run for a third term in office.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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