But he wasn’t there.
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The chief of staff said on Monday, however, that RSP officers were refusing to participate in the process and accused Gen. Diendere of hindering the disarmament.
“I’m in a safe place. I’m not within the camp”, Diendere advised Reuters by phone, declining to provide additional particulars of his whereabouts.
The army’s Chief of Staff General Pingrenoma Zagre said late Tuesday that the camp was largely empty at the time of the assault.
The army had surrounded the barracks all day and army spokesman Capt Guy Herve Ye said artillery was sacked at the complex before soldiers moved in and took control.
The Government of Liberia joins ECOWAS in calling for the immediate reinstatement of transitional institutions in Burkina Faso and Michel Kafando as Interim President.
One thing follows another and there is now a few shuffling for the coup leaders and the disgraced presidential guards officials to be punished for their actions more than what the interim government has prescribed. “There was no need for talking, just to attack (the RSP)”, a driver called Momune Sigue told AFP. “Unfortunately that call was not well heeded…”
The landlocked, West-African state is considered a key ally of France and the U.S.in the fight against Islamist militants in the Sahel.
Earlier Tuesday the army arrested a former high-ranking minister accused of collaborating with the mutinous soldiers.
He was banned by the constitutional court from participating in the presidential election which was to be held in October.
He gave power back to the government following a deal brokered by regional leaders, and said the coup was a “mistake”.
At least 10 people were killed and more than 100 injured in clashes during the take-over which Gen Diendere described as “the biggest mistake”.
Ougadougou airport was shut down Tuesday as troops locked down the area around the barracks of the RSP, who were officially dissolved after they abandoned their September 17 coup.
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It was also condemned by the Burkina Faso military and other government loyalists, as well as the global community, including the African Union.
