Burkina Faso army moves on capital to disarm coup leaders

Military heads in Burkina Faso said Monday that the West African nation's armed forces were converging in the capital Ouagadougou to disarm the elite presidential guard "without bloodshed."

The 1,200-member unit staged a coup on Wednesday, taking hostage the interim president and members of the government just weeks before Oct. 11 polls meant to restore democracy following last year's overthrow of longtime leader Blaise Compaore.

"We ask them to immediately lay down their arms and go to Camp Sangoule Lamizana," read the statement signed by several military chiefs, referring to a barracks in Ouagadougou.

"They and their families will be protected," it added.

Mediators from the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS) announced a draft agreement aimed at ending the crisis late on Sunday. However the proposal, which included an amnesty for the coup leaders, was swiftly rejected by civil society and opposition politicians.

Demonstrators protesting against coup leader General Gilbert Diendere and the ECOWAS deal erected barricades and burned tires in several neighborhoods across the capital on Monday.

Large protests were also organized in several other towns.

"There's a potential civil conflict there now. If [Diendere] stays, the people will fight him," said Rinaldo Depagne, West Africa project director for the International Crisis Group.

In a concession to Diendere and his supporters, the plan would allow loyalists of the former longtime president to take part in the vote. One of the chief reasons cited for the coup was that an electoral code approved earlier this year banned members of the former ruling party from running for office.

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 ouster.

The plan drafted by mediators will go before the West African regional bloc ECOWAS in Nigeria on Tuesday. Under that plan, Diendere would step aside and the interim president he overthrew would be reinstalled until the vote.

Wire services