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Guinea’s military government has unveiled a “transitional charter” that it says will steer the country back to civilian rule.

The document, read out on national television late on Monday, set down a series of tasks, including the drafting of a new constitution and holding “free, democratic and transparent” elections – although it does not clarify how long the transition will last.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc has demanded that elections be held within six months, as well as the release of 83-year-old President Alpha Conde, who was detained on September 5 by troops led by a special forces colonel, Mamady Doumbouya.

Conde became Guinea’s first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected in 2015. But last year, he pushed through a controversial new constitution that allowed him to run for a third term in October 2020.

The move sparked mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed. Conde won re-election but the political opposition maintained the poll was a sham.