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Mogoh
Naba, King of the Mossi ethnic group, speaks with the media at his in Ougadougou
after coup leaders reached a deal with the army to end a standoff that began
last week. (AFP Photo; Image source: NEWVISION)
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Burkina Faso coup leaders
agreed to return to their barracks and said they would restore the deposed
president to power, signing a deal with the army that apparently defuses a
tense standoff sparked by last week's putsch. The breakthrough came late
Tuesday after marathon talks in Nigeria's Abuja, where west African heads of
state had sought to break the impasse fuelled by angry threats on both sides.
The
deal was signed a day after troops entered Burkina's capital Ouagadougou,
turning up the pressure on the elite presidential guards (RSP) who staged the
coup.
Under
its terms, the RSP agreed to stand down from the positions they had taken up in
Ouagadougou, while the army also agreed to withdraw its troops and guarantee
the safety of the RSP members as well as their families.
AFP
report continues:
The
deal was presented to the Mogho Naba, "king" of Burkina Faso's
leading Mossi tribe, in front of the media early Wednesday.
Burkina
Faso plunged into crisis last Wednesday when the powerful RSP detained the
interim leaders who had been running the country since a popular uprising
deposed iron-fisted president Blaise Compaoré last October.
The
elite unit of 1,300 men loyal to Compaoré officially declared a coup Thursday
and installed rebel leader General Gilbert Diendere, Compaoré's former chief of
staff, as the country's new leader.
The
breakthrough came as Diendere told AFP that interim president Michel Kafando,
who had been seized by presidential guards but later released, would be
returned to office on Wednesday.
The
return of "Kafando is already a done deal. The (African) heads of state
arrive tomorrow to put him back in office," Diendere said late Tuesday.
Earlier,
West African leaders from ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African
States) had announced they would return to Ouagadougou to "restore"
Kafando to power.
Fighting
talk
The
putsch came just weeks ahead of an election planned for October 11, with at
least 10 people killed and more than 100 injured in the resulting unrest.
A
round of talks mediated by Senegalese President Macky Sall focused on returning
power to the interim government while granting the putschists an amnesty in
return.
But
the proposal was met with widespread scepticism before any final draft even saw
the light.
Speaking
to France's RFI radio, Kafando had warned he had "serious
reservations" about the proposal, adding that he had not been invited to
the talks in the Nigerian capital.
Residents
too were furious at the suggestion of an amnesty for the coup ringleaders.
It
was unclear early Wednesday if the amnesty had made it into the deal signed
between the coup leaders and the army.
On
Tuesday, Burkina Faso's military had warned coup leader Diendere it has the
means to attack his elite forces.
"The
national armed forces who arrived yesterday in Ouagadougou could have attacked
the... RSP from the moment they entered, and they have the capacity and the
means to do so," the army chiefs said in a statement.
Diendere
had hit back, saying his men would defend themselves if the army attacked them.
"We
do not want to fight but ultimately we will defend ourselves," Diendere
had warned.
"We
do not want to shed any blood to stay in power. There is no point in spilling
blood or causing massacres."
On
Monday night, cheering crowds greeted the regular army units as they marched to
the capital to put pressure on Diendere to surrender.
The
show of strength was the first public stance by the 11,000-strong army since
the coup.
ECOWAS
commission president Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said Tuesday that military and
humanitarian observers from member states would be sent to Burkina Faso
"to monitor respect for human rights".
The
coup sparked global condemnation, with former colonial power France urging the
leaders to surrender.
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