Burkina Faso coup d'etat leaders given ultimatum as surrender deadline expires

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- 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.

Military troops were moving through Ouagadougou, the capital, as a surrender deadline passed Tuesday. Negotiations broke down between national army chiefs and the presidential guard, headed by Gen. Gilbert Diendere.

Diendere reportedly defied the ultimatum and asked his presidential guard to retaliate if attacked, BBC News reported.

The army is urging anti-coup protesters to return home ahead of potential violence. Army chiefs are fully supporting Burkina Faso's transitional government, which was dissolved Thursday during the coup.

At least 10 people have died and more than 100 have been injured in clashes.

Diendere was chief of staff to former President Blaise Compaore, who ruled for 27 years. Compaore, who is in exile, stepped down in October last year after protesters demanded his resignation. A transitional government was put in power and general elections were originally scheduled for Oct. 11.

Interim Burkina Faso President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida were arrested as part of the coup. They were later released in good condition.

The Economic Community of West African States, made up of 15 members including Benin, Burkina Faso and Senegal, began mediation efforts over the weekend in attempts to resolve the situation peacefully.

ECOWAS created a proposal that would give power back to the country's transitional government, while granting coup participants amnesty. Elections would also be held no later than Nov. 22, in which all candidates would be able to run under the proposal -- whereas key allies to Compaore were previously barred from contesting the election.

"We thought we were doing it for the good of the country," Diendere said Tuesday at a press conference. "Ready to surrender? We are not there yet ... We wish to continue the discussions and we say to all that we are ready to implement ECOWAS' decisions."

Diendere apologized to Burkina Faso's people, known as Burkinabes, stating it was "the least we could do."

Many Burkinabes, including Cherif Sy, the speaker of Burkina Faso's transitional parliament, and angry protesters, reject the mediation proposal -- specifically the notion of granting amnesty to coup facilitators.

"We have no need of ECOWAS here, nor the international community," one coup protester told the BBC.

The situation in Ouagadougou is tense, Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque reported.

"The civil society and most of the people here don't agree with this agreement. On the street right now people are following the orders of the military. The military has asked the people to retreat back home," Haque said. "The presidential guard has locked down the presidential palace. They are out in full force."