Leaders of the attempted coup in Burundiwere being arrested on Friday,
reports said, after armed forces loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza
overpowered an attempt by generals to seize power while he was out of
the country.
The rival groups had battled for control of the Burundi capital after
a former intelligence chief launched a violent bid to take charge.
The efforts to overthrow Nkurunziza, who has sparked widespread unrest
by trying to run for a third term, were apparently popular with the
public but met with heavy armed opposition from military loyal to the
president. A deputy leader of the coup admitted by Thursday night that
it had failed. The president, in Tanzania when the uprising was
launched, was said to have returned to the country to take charge.
On Friday morning the leader of the coup attempt, former intelligence
chief General Godefroid Niyombare, told AFP by phone as troops
approached him: "We have decided to surrender ... I hope they won't kill
us."
The coup leaders' spokesman, Venon Ndabaneze, also spoke to AFP
confirming they had decided to surrender. Loyalist troops were
arresting him, deputy coup leader Cyrille Ndayirukiye and others, he
said.
On Thursday heavy gunfire rang out in Bujumbura and it was difficult
to determine who was in control of the capital, with periods of
relative calm broken by bouts of gunfire in the evening. Five soldiers
were reportedly killed in clashes.
Late on Thursday a deputy leader of the coup, General Cyrille
Ndayirukiye, told AFP: "Personally I recognise that our movement has
failed ... We were faced with an overpowering military determination to
support the system in power."
Power struggle in Burundi - the Guardian briefing
Burundi became a tinderbox when Niyombare, a former intelligence chief
who was fired three months ago, announcedthat Nkurunziza had been
ousted after weeks of civil unrest triggered by the president's
attempt to stand for a third term.
Early on Thursday the army chief of staff, General Prime Niyongabo,
announced on state radio that he did not support the attempted coup -
a signal that not all of the military forces were aligned. Niyongabo
said he had negotiated with those supporting the coup but if they "did
not understand talking we will make them understand by force".
Reports afterwards said Nkurunziza had returned to Burundi from
Tanzania. A text message from the presidency said: "President
Nkurunziza is back in Burundi after the attempted coup. He
congratulates the army, the police and the Burundian people."
The rival factions struggled throughout Thursday for control of public
and private radio stations. In the afternoon Nkurunziza announced on
state radio, from an unknown location, that he condemned the coup,
while thanking the soldiers who had remained loyal. "I condemn that
group of coup plotters. I thank soldiers who are putting things in
order, and I forgive any soldier who decides to surrender," Reuters
reported him as saying.
Heavy fighting flared around the state broadcasting headquarters,
forcing radio transmissions to halt briefly. They resumed after the
shooting eased to announce that state radio was still in the hands of
forces loyal to the president. The state broadcaster is seen as a
strategic asset for both sides to reach the population.
Earlier the African Public Radio station, which was shut down during
the weeks of protests and reopened after the coup attempt, was set
alight and prevented from broadcasting. Heavy plumes of smoke rose
from the building. Radio Bonesha, another private station, was also
attacked by people with grenades and gunfire. Burundi's international
airport, meanwhile, was shut then reportedly reopened and taken over
by party loyalists.
"President Pierre Nkurunziza is now in Burundi," the president's
senior communications adviser, Willy Nyamitwe, told AFP on Thursday
night. "That's all we can say for now because of security reasons."
The violence left the country facing its biggest crisis since the end
of a 12-year ethnically charged civil war in 2006. Hundreds of
thousands of people died in the conflict and the subsequent peace
accord ensured that the future army would be split 50-50 between
minority Tutsis and majority Hutus.
Gunfire is heard on Thursday morning in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura.
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