“We make the solemn commitment to restore, from this day, the constitution of the Republic of Mali of February 25, 1992, as well as the republic’s institutions,” Sanogo told journalists at his headquarters in Kati, a northern suburb of Bamako.

As Tuareg and Islamist fighters attacked Timbuktu, the last major town in the north not yet under their control, Sanogo talked of the need to solve the “multi-dimensional crisis” facing the country and for a transition that preserved national cohesion.

He said the junta had “decided to engage, under the guidance of a mediator, in consultations with all the forces active in our country in the framework of a national convention.”

These talks should lead to the creation of transitional organs “to organise free, open and democratic elections in which we will not participate,” said Sanogo.

He did not specify the duration of the transition.

Sanogo was speaking standing next to Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole, in Bamako since Saturday to negotiate a return to constitutional order.

West African bloc ECOWAS on Saturday put 2,000 troops on standby after Tuareg rebels took control of nearly the entire northeast of Mali, attacking the historic desert town of Timbuktu on Sunday.