Burkina Faso: Putschists won't surrender

The Presidential Security Regiment, an elite unit of soldiers whose attempted coup was thwarted after one week, is refusing to disarm, the army's chief of staff said on Monday.

"The disarmament process began on Saturday...and was brutally compromised yesterday," the statement said, according to AFP news agency.

According to the army spokesman, coup leader General Gilbert Diendere is holding both government soldiers and former putschists hostage. The statement also said Diendere's followers had "started incidents" and were intimidating those in charge of the disarmament process, Reuters reported.

The government, led by interim President Michel Kafando, had frozen Diendere's assets on Saturday, a day after it had dissolved the Presidential Security Regiment following mass protests across the country in response to the coup attempt.

Diendere said he started the coup because of the new government's plans to dissolve the presidential guard and to prevent allies of former President Blaise Compaore from voting in elections. Compaore was removed from power in October 2014.

blc/kms (AFP, Reuters)