A senior US official says coup leaders in Niger refused to allow her to meet with the West African country’s democratically elected president, whom she described as under “virtual house arrest”.

Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland also described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to US calls to return the country to civilian rule.

She spoke to reporters after a two-hour meeting on the ground in Niger’s capital, Niamey, with some leaders of the two-week military takeover in Niger, a vital counter-terrorism partner of the United States.