3 Generals 7 other junior officers involved in the failed #Burundicoup have been arrested. However reports say the whereabouts of their leader Gen Godefroid Niyombare remain unknown.
According to AFP, Gen Niyombare, who launched the coup attempt on Wednesday, told AFP that he wanted to give himself up, and said soldiers supporting the president were approaching him.
He added that he hopes they will not be killed.
President Pierre Nkurunziza who has declared his controversial bid for a third term was in Tanzania for an East African summit when the general and his men launched a coup against him.
President Nkurunziza Tweeted that he was back home on Thursday .
Five soldiers were killed in clashes between rival forces in the capital, Bujumbura, on Thursday.
Another of the renegade generals, Gen Cyrille Ndayirukiye, admitted earlier that the attempt to overthrow the president had failed.
An attempt to overthrow Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza ended in failure on Friday as coup leaders admitted defeat and were arrested or hunted down by loyalist troops.
The coup leaders’ spokesman, Venon Ndabaneze, also spoke to AFP confirming that the putschists had decided to surrender when loyalist troops arrested him, deputy coup leader Cyrille Ndayirukiye and another senior figure among the mutineers.
“We decided to give ourselves up. We have laid down our arms. We have called the security ministry to tell them we no longer have any arms,” Ndabaneze said, seconds before he could be heard being arrested.
Wednesday’s coup announcement triggered international criticism, raising fears of a return to widespread violence in the impoverished country, which is still recovering from a 13-year civil war that ended in 2006 and left hundreds of thousands dead.
