Burkina Faso PM Zida, held hostage since coup, freed

Earlier, a senior army officer said soldiers would launch an assault to retake the capital, if the presidential guard did not surrender by 10:00 GMT.

The presidential guard has seized power in the West African country, but loyalist troops are said to be converging on the capital.

“All units (of the army mobilised on Monday to march on the capital) reached Ouagadougou” overnight, Colonel Serge Alain Ouedraogo, deputy head of the Burkinabe police, told news agency AFP.

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.

President Muhammadu Buhari has condemn Wednesday’s detention of the Interim President, the Prime Minister and other ministers of the transitional government of Burkina Faso in an apparent coup d’etat.

France’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Gilles Thibault, tweeted that interim President Michel Kafando, who was arrested last Wednesday, was now at the ambassador’s residence.

Blaise Compaore served as president for 27 years, and his bid to further extend his rule prompted massive street protests and eventually led to his overthrow. “Do they want to ignore the suffering of the people at the hands of the RSP?” a protester asked reporters. They have been misinformed’.

A statement issued by the coup leaders said the country would be led by Gen Gilbert Diendere, Compaore’s former chief-of-staff.

The heads of the National Armed Forces said troops would converge on the capital of Ouagadougou to try to disarm the junta without bloodshed.

Although the coup leaders have released Prime Minister Zida, General Gilbert Diendere has said he will only hand over power to a transitional civilian government if the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) approves a peace plan.

Ouagadougou residents queueing to settle bills yesterday at the national power supplier, Sonabel, were highly critical of the Ecowas proposal and said they would take to the streets. Their exclusion from the election along with concerns that the transitional government was preparing to disband the presidential guard were among justifications given by Diendere for staging the coup. Doctors say three people have died from bullet wounds and at least 60 are injured.

The mediators propose Kafando returns as interim president, along with an amnesty for the putschists.

Junta members said they were angered that members of Compaore’s former ruling party couldn’t take part in elections that were set for October 11.

“Minutes before the deadline expired, General Diendere called a press conference and released a statement saying he wants to stand by the framework agreement that was negotiated with ECOWAS”, Haque reported.