 |
Government: All Burundi Coup Bid Leaders Surrender
Burundi's defense minister said about 30 dissident soldiers who launched a coup attempt on Wednesday surrendered peacefully early Thursday and all involved in the attempted takeover were now in custody.
"All the soldiers who were with this lieutenant (coup leader Pasteur Ntarutimana), they surrendered. We captured them and we captured the lieutenant. No one was killed. No one was wounded," Defense Minister Cyrille Ndayirukiye told reporters.
He said that at about 3 a.m. the last remaining group of about 30 dissidents left the state radio building where they had been holed up and gave themselves up to government troops, several hours after a first group of about 10 had surrendered.
About 40 suspected Tutsi dissidents belonging to a little known group called the National Youth Patriotic Front seized the radio Wednesday and announced their rebellion against the Tutsi-led administration of Pierre Buyoya.
But within hours, officers loyal to Buyoya arrived at the station, surrounded the building and opened negotiations with the coup leaders inside to persuade them to surrender.
The government, fighting a seven-year-old war against rebels of the majority Hutu community, was in full control of all army-held areas of the country, he said.
Bujumbura appeared normal Thursday, with some traffic moving on the streets and people walking to work.
In This Section
|