Burkina Faso army ‘marches’ on capital to disarm coup leaders

Burkina Faso’s Regiment of Presidential Security, which carried out a coup d’etat last week, was given an ultimatum by military leaders Tuesday: Surrender or face assault.

Buhari and the federal government had last week condemned the detention of Burkina Faso’s Interim President, the Prime Minister and other ministers of that country’s transitional government in a coup d’etat.

Rebel soldiers still controlled the presidential palace, but troops that oppose the coup held most other key points in Ouagadougou, witnesses said.

Gen. Gilbert Diendere, the coup leader, instead said he would hand over power when requested by West African leaders of the regional body ECOWAS who met in Nigeria. “I’m within the time allotted to me”, he told a news conference. “I do not want to play a particular role in the transition”, the former commander of the presidential guard said.

“The RSP (presidential guard) is now negotiating the conditions of its surrender to the head of the army”, said a senior military source involved in the operation, referring to talks under way in Ouagadougou’s Camp Guillaume Ouedraogo.

The statement called on members of the presidential guard to lay down their weapons and return to their barracks.

Burkina Faso’s coup leader said Tuesday that negotiations are still ongoing even though a deadline given by the military for the junta to disarm has expired.

In a concession to Diendere and his supporters, the plan would allow loyalists of the former longtime president to take part in the vote.

‘We are continuing discussions to make them leave, ‘ Diendere told AFP, adding that soldiers who had entered the capital ‘have been negatively influenced by certain people.

“At the last count, the Junta has killed about 10 persons and injured over 100 in the p heightened anti coup protests in the country”. Diendere said he’s been in continual contact with the country’s army chief and they’ve agreed on the need for peace and stability.

Following the threat, Diendere announced Monday that he would hand over control to a civilian transitional government and apologized to the nation. However the proposal, which included an amnesty for the coup leaders, was swiftly rejected by civil society and opposition politicians. The deal foresees “the restoration of the transitional institutions and of interim president (Michel) Kafando”, who is under house arrest by the putschists, and for all those being held as a result of the coup to be freed.