Burkina Faso coup leaders have agreed to reinstate the deposed president to power and have promised to return to their barracks after signing a deal with the army.
The breakthrough came late on Tuesday after marathon talks in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, where west African heads of state had sought to break the impasse fuelled by angry threats on both sides.
The deal came a day after army troops entered Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, turning up the pressure on the elite presidential guards (RSP) who had staged the coup.
The RSP agreed to stand down from the positions they had taken up in Ouagadougou while the army agreed to withdraw its troops and guarantee safety of the RSP members and their families.
Diendere, the coup leader, told AFP that the interim president Michel Kafando, who had been seized by presidential guards but later released , would be returned to office on Wednesday.
Earlier, West African leaders from Ecowas (the Economic Community of West African States) had announced that they would return to Ougadougou to “restore” Kafando to power.
On Tuesday, Burkina Faso’s military had warned coup leader Gen. Diendere that it has the means to attack his elite forces. Gen. Diendere however hit back, saying his men would defend themselves if the army attacked them.
